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, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

, novelist and rationalist writer.

Biography

Hawton was born in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

and was educated at

Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational private 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 Colleg ...

. 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, United States, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research a ...

. 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'' (1927–1929). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he worked for No. 4 Group RAF at

Heslington Hall Heslington Hall is a historic 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 to 1568, but it was large ...

, Yorkshire. Flynn, Tom. (2007). ''The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief''.

Prometheus Books Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz (who was also the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry). The publ ...

. p. 381. He was managing director of the

Rationalist Press Association The Rationalist Association was a charity in the United Kingdom which published '' New Humanist'' magazine between 1885 and 2025. Since 2025, the Rationalist Press has been the publishing imprint of Humanists UK. The original Rationalist Press ...

(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 fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

. 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 advoca ...

's book ''Pagan Christs''. He ghostwrote many of the books attributed to

Eustace Chesser Eustace Chesser (formerly Isaac Chesarkie) (22 March 1902 – 1973) was a Scottish psychiatrist, social reformer and writer. Early life Eustace Chesser was born in Edinburgh on 22 March 1902, to Russian immigrants. He educated at George Watso ...

. 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 Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

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 Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

'' 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 British 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