[1] The son of John Hawksley and Sarah Thompson and born in Arnot Hill House, Arnold, near Nottingham on (1807-07-12)12 July 1807,[2] Hawksley was largely self-taught from the age of 15 onwards—despite his education at Nottingham High School[3]—having at that point become articled to a local firm of architects under the supervision of Edward Staveley that also undertook a variety of water-related engineering projects.

[1] This approach led him to be appointed to many major water supply projects across England, including schemes for Liverpool, Sheffield, Leicester, Lincoln, Leeds, Derby, Darlington, Oxford, Cambridge, Sunderland, Wakefield and Northampton.

He was the first president of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers[5] (serving for three years from 1863), a Fellow of the Royal Society,[6] and was elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1871 (a post his son Charles later occupied in 1901).

[7] Between 1869 and 1879, Hawksley acted as consultant to the construction of Lindley Wood, Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs for the Leeds Waterworks Company.

"[12] Hawksley died in Kensington, London in 1893[13] and is buried in his family plot at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.