Elwin Hawthorne (1905–1954) was a British painter, and part of the so-called East London Group.
[2] He served in the army during World War II, which conflict saw the end of his exhibiting.
[2] Hawthorne died in the King George Hospital at Ilford, Essex, on 15 October 1954[3] and was survived by his wife, Lilian (ne Leahy; they married in 1937 and she died in 1996[4]), who was also an East London Group artist, and their two children.
[2] By the time of his death, aged 49, he had become so disenchanted with the art world that he had used one of his paintings, on board, as a shelf in a coal bunker.
[3] The author David Buckman has described him as:[2] a prominent talent in the [East London] Group and an integral part of the lost history of one of the major artistic movements to come out of the East End in the last century.A number of Hawthorne's works are in public collections in the United Kingdom, including Manchester Art Gallery, the Laing Art Gallery, Ulster Museum, St. Anne's College (University of Oxford), Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, and the Harris Museum & Art Gallery.