Hewett was born in India in 1781, the son of William Nathan Wright Hewett of Bilham Hall, near Doncaster, a once wealthy landowner who lost the majority of his fortune to horse-racing and had to leave the country for Calcutta.
Hewett was educated at Clare College, Cambridge which he matriculated into in 1799 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1803.
[1] Following his Bachelor of Arts degree, he was ordained a deacon at Ely Cathedral on 22 October 1803, and appointed curate of Stow cum Quy and Croxton in Cambridgeshire and later was appointed a priest at Norwich Cathedral on 23 September 1804.
[4][5] In 1825 Hewett received his Doctorate of Divinity from Clare College, Cambridge.
[5] On 19 February 1828 Hewett married Mary Ann Selby-Hele, daughter of the Rev.