In the First World War he was a conscientious objector, exempted from military service conditional upon continuing his then work.
[2] Hawkins spent his entire academic career at the University of Reading, after first being appointed Acting Part Time Lecturer in Geology in 1909.
He was appointed Professor of Geology in 1920, and oversaw the expansion of the department over the next few decades.
In 1937, Hawkins was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, for his distinguished work on the Echinoidea (sea urchins), and his textbook on 'Invertebrate Palaeontology' (Methuen, 1920) which was 'much esteemed and illustrates his broad and philosophical outlook'.
His nomination notes that 'He would have published more if not engaged in building up a new Department, from two students in 1920 to 61 in 1932'.