Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy (17 May 1933 – 16 July 2019) was a British author, known for biographies, including one of Alfred Kinsey, and books of social history on the British nanny and public school system. For his autobiography, Half an Arch, he received the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography in 2005. He also wrote novels and children's literature. He subsequently worked in advertising and publishing.

Early life

Born in Edinburgh, he was raised in London, and educated at Port Regis School, Bryanston School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received a major scholarship to read history. As a boy, he was one of Benjamin Britten's favourites and he and his family provided the names for the characters in The Little Sweep. His involvement with Britten is described in John Bridcut's Britten's Children. His grandfather was Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 3rd Earl of Cranbrook. His father was Surgeon-Commander Honorable Antony Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, the fourth child of the third Earl. His mother was Ruth Elizabeth Thorowgood. Edward Gathorne-Hardy and Robert Gathorne-Hardy were his uncles, and his aunt was Lady Anne Hill, wife of George Heywood Hill, who together founded the Heywood Hill bookshop in Mayfair. His cousin, born just a month after him, was the zoologist Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook, who attended Cambridge at the same time as he did.

Death

He died at his home in Aldeburgh on 16 July 2019 at the age of 86.

Works