David George Hogarth (1862-1927) was a British archaeologist specializing in the Middle East. While he was well known for his research, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society, his most lasting effects may well have been as mentor to Gertrude Bell and T. E. Lawrence, and as a political intelligence specialist for Britain.
His archaeological responsibilities included heading the Ashmolean Museum; he was an expert in pottery.
Lawrence said of Hogarth, "He is the man to whom I owe everything I have had since I was seventeen."[1] He was 45 when he met Lawrence, and was a Fellow at Magdalen, had been the director of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, correspondent for the Times, and considered himself a patriot "in it neither for pay nor honours."[2]
While at Oxford, Gertrude Bell developed a lifelong friendship with Janet Hogarth, David's younger sister. [3] In 1915, he recruited her for the Military Intelligence office in Cairo, a human-source intelligence and intelligence analysis office he headed, reporting to Admiral Reginald Hall. [4]