Hector Hawton (7 February 1901 – 14 December 1975) was a British

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

, novelist and rationalist writer.

Biography

Hawton was born in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

and was educated at

Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational independent school in Plymouth, Devon. History The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead C ...

. He married Mary Bishop, they had two sons.Reginald, Robert. (1979). ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2''.

Gale Research Company Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...

. p. 933. He worked as a journalist for the ''

Western Morning News The ''Western Morning News'' is a daily regional newspaper founded in 1860, and covering the West Country including Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Somerset and Dorset in the South West of England. Organisation The ''Western ...

'' (1919–1923), National Press Agency (1923–1927) and was an editor for ''

Empire News The ''Empire News'' was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom. The newspaper was founded in 1884 in Manchester as ''The Umpire''. A penny newspaper, it was the first successful provincial Sunday newspaper in England. Owned by H. S. Jenning ...

'' (1927–1929). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he worked for

No. 4 Group RAF No. 4 Group was a Royal Air Force group, originally formed in the First World War, and reformed in the wake of the Second World War, mostly part of RAF Bomber Command, but ending its days in RAF Transport Command. History Formation in the Fir ...

Heslington Hall Heslington Hall is a Grade II* listed manor house near the village of Heslington, North Yorkshire, England, within the city of York. The hall is part of the campus of the University of York. The original house dated from 1565–8, but it was ...

, Yorkshire. Flynn, Tom. (2007). ''The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief''. Prometheus Books. p. 381. He was managing director of the

Rationalist Press Association The Rationalist Association, originally the Rationalist Press Association, is an organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual teno ...

(1952–1971) and editor for ''The Humanist''. Hawton was sympathetic to the

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that "the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology", possessing no "substantial claims to historical fact". Alternatively ...

. He wrote the introduction to the 1967 reprint of

J. M. Robertson John Mackinnon Robertson (14 November 1856 – 5 January 1933) was a prolific Scottish journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism, and Liberal Member of Parliament for Tyneside from 1906 to 1918. Robertson was best known as an adv ...

's book ''Pagan Christs''. He

ghostwrote A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...

many of the books attributed to Eustace Chesser. Hawton authored many novels, including science fiction. Some of these were published under the pseudonyms Jack Lethaby or John Sylvester. He identified as a Marxist but later moved away from this viewpoint. He has been described as "one of the most significant humanists in postwar Britain."

Publications

Nonfiction *''Flight From Reality'' (1941) *''Night Bombing'' (1944) *''The Men Who Fly'' (1944) *''Men Without Gods'' (1948)
''Philosophy for Pleasure''
(1949)Hartland-Swann, John. (1950). ''Philosophy for Pleasure by Hawton Hector''. '' Philosophy'' 25 (95): 349–350. *''Why be Moral?: How to Decide What is Right and What is Wrong Without Invoking a Supernatural Law-Giver'' (1947) *''The Thinker's Handbook: A Guide to Religious Controversy'' (1950) *''The Feast of Unreason'' (1952)
''Reason in Action''
(1956) Archibald Robertson, J. B. Coates, Donald Ford and Archibald Robertson (atheist)">Archibald Robertson, J. B. Coates, Donald Ford and H. J. Blackham">H. J. Blackham">Archibald Robertson (atheist)">Archibald Robertson, J. B. Coates, Donald Ford and H. J. Blackham*''The Humanist Revolution'' (1963) *''Controversy: The Humanist/Christian Encounter'' (1971) Novels * Murder Cave (1934) *''Frozen Fire'' (1935) *''Murder at H.Q.'' (1935) *''Unnatural Causes'' (1947) *''Murder by Mathematics'' (1948) *''The Case of the Crazy Atom'' (1948) *''Master of the World'' (1949) *''Tower of Darkness'' (1950) *''Blue-Eyed Buddha'' (1951) *''Operation Superman'' (1951) *''Black Emperor'' (1952) *''Death of a Witch'' (1952) *''The Flying Saucer'' (1952) *''The Lost Valley'' (1953) *''Rope for the Judge'' (1954) *''Skeleton in the Cupboard'' (1955) *''The Green Scorpion'' (1957)

References

External links

Hector Hawton
– Fantastic Fiction {{Authority control 1901 births 1975 deaths Royal Air Force airmen Military personnel from Plymouth, Devon 20th-century English novelists Critics of Christianity English atheists English humanists English male journalists English sceptics Freethought writers Writers from Plymouth, Devon Rationalists Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Authors of Sexton Blake