Raised in poverty in the Carntyne district of Glasgow, Hind's father, Archie Sr., a stoker on locomotive engines, suffered from mental health problems which, coupled with other frustrations, led to frequent incidents of domestic violence.

[1] Due to financial hardship, Hind was under pressure to leave school and take on menial jobs, eventually being called up to serve in the medical corps in Singapore and Ceylon at the end of World War II.

His big break came when he was accepted in 1950–51 to study a creative course at Newbattle Abbey College, Midlothian, where the principal, Orcadian poet Edwin Muir, reportedly became his mentor and helped inspire him.

Archie Hind was survived by his wife of 56 years, Eleanor (née Slane), sons Callum and Martin, and daughters Sheila and Helen.

literary festival in Glasgow's Mitchell Library to mark the reprinting of The Dear Green Place, along with the Fur Sadie manuscript and examples of his writing.