Lieutenant-Colonel William Le Hardy (c.1889 – 28 December 1961) was an English archivist.

Le Hardy was born into a family of archivists. His great-uncle, Sir Thomas Hardy

Thomas Duffus Hardy

Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy was an English archivist and antiquary.-Life:He was the third son of Major Thomas Bartholomew Price Hardy, and belonged to a family several members of which had distinguished themselves in the British navy. Born at Port Royal in Jamaica, he crossed over to England and in...

 and his grandfather Sir William Hardy were Deputy Keepers of the Public Records and his father William John Hardy (died 1919) was a record agent in the firm of Hardy and Page, later Hardy and Reckitt.
Hardy served in the first world war, and after his father's death in 1919 took control of the family firm, succeeding his father as editor of the calendars of the Quarter Sessions records of Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 and Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, and working on those of Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

. In 1946 Hardy became county archivist of Middlesex (three days a week) and Hertfordshire (two days a week), resigning the Middlesex post in 1956 to concentrate on Hertfordshire. "To his drive and initiative both counties owe the rapid development of their record offices on modern lines and the growth of their record holdings." As a county archivist, he had the reputation of being attentive to the needs to users of the archive.

Le Hardy was a founder-member of the British Records Association

British Records Association

The British Records Association, widely known as the B.R.A., is a British learned society founded in 1932 concerned with historic records and archives. It issues a journal, Archives, and other publications; hosts conferences and seminars; and undertakes other activities to promote the care and...

 in 1932, serving almost continuously on its Council until his death, aged 72. Also a founder-member of the Society of Local Archivists, he was chairman of its council from 1949 to 1954, and elected a Vice-President when the Society became the Society of Archivists

Society of Archivists

The Society of Archivists was the principal professional body for archivists, archive conservators and records managers in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

in 1955.

Works

• (with Dorothy Bushby) Wormley in Hertfordshire, Staples Press, 1954
• Guide to the Hertfordshire Record Office, vol I, 1960