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Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy (born 1933) is 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 has also written novels and children's literature.

He was brought up in London, and educated at Bryanston and Cambridge. 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.

He subsequently worked in advertising and publishing.

Robert Gathorne-Hardy and Edward Gathorne-Hardy were his uncles.