Hawkesworth was born in London on 7 December 1920, the son of the-then Captain J. L. I. Hawkesworth, a British Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general and who had fought in the First World War (1914–1918) and Helen Jane Hawkesworth (née McNaughton). He was educated at Rugby, the Sorbonne and Oxford. During the Second World War (1939–1945) he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, in 1941, into the 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards and served with it throughout the North-West Europe Campaign of 1944–45.
Hawkesworth was born in London on 7 December 1920, the son of Captain J. L. I. Hawkesworth, a British Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general and who had fought in World War I (1914–1918) and Helen Jane Hawkesworth (née McNaughton). He was educated at Rugby, the Sorbonne, and Oxford. During World War II (1939–1945), he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, in 1941, into the 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards and served with it throughout the North-West Europe Campaign of 1944–45.