Captain William Henry Hall (20 April 1842 - 10 March 1895) was the first Director of Naval Intelligence

Naval Intelligence Division

The Naval Intelligence Division was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans, with the collection of naval intelligence...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

.

Hall was thought of highly by John A. Fisher, who had requested him to act as Commander in HMS Inflexible

HMS Inflexible (1876)

HMS Inflexible was a Victorian ironclad battleship carrying her main armament in centrally placed turrets. The ship was constructed in the 1870s for the Royal Navy to oppose the perceived growing threat from the Italian Regia Marina in the Mediterranean.The Italian Navy had started constructing a...

, which Fisher was to captain and which was under construction at the time. Hall had to decline the offer for private reasons. He was appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Committee in 1882, and became Director of Naval Intelligence in 1887 when the Naval Intelligence Department was formed.

His son, William Reginald Hall

William Reginald Hall

Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, KCMG, CB, RN was the British Director of Naval Intelligence from 1914 to 1919...

, also became Director of Naval intelligence in 1914.