Hawkins was the son of Francis Henry Albert Hawkins (Vicar of All Soul's Clapton Park, Rector of All Saints' Highgate and Prebendary of
St Paul's Cathedral London) and Mary Anne Ridley Hawkins. Hawkins was baptised on 25 March 1892 at All Soul's Clapton Park. He was educated at
Forest School (Walthamstow). From 1910, he studied theology at
St Edmund Hall, Oxford and graduated in 1913. In October 1914, Hawkins was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion,
South Staffordshire Regiment and was a Ccptain attached to the
Royal Flying Corps by the time of his marriage in 1917. He married Margaret Lacey (1890-1977), daughter of Canon
Thomas Alexander Lacey at All Saints' Church, Highgate on 4 June 1917. Hawkins had five children: • John C L Hawkins 1918 • Dorothy A Hawkins 1920 • Patricia Hawkins 1923 • Robert A Hawkins 1925 • Margaret S Hawkins 1930 He received a Master of Arts degree in 1919. He was ordained a deacon in 1919 and a priest in 1920. ==Career==