Hawkins was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall for 1783 [REF].
He himself was MP for several of his own Cornish boroughs, namely Grampound from 1800 to 1807, Mitchell from 1784 to 1799 and again from 1806 to 1807, Penryn from 1806 to 1807 and again from 1818 to 1820, and St Ives from 1821 to 1828.