Harold Hawson, eldest son of George Hawson and Julia Garland, was born on 11 August 1855 at the farm in Hooton Roberts near Rotherham, and was baptised only 8 days later. He was known to be the favourite brother of his sister Ada. After his father's death in 1869, he would have moved to Doncaster with his mother.
On 31 July 1879 he married Ellen Stringfield Clayton at Christ Church, Doncaster. By this time he was a grocer, living at 89 West Street, Sheffield. Ellen, daughter of gardener George Clayton, had been living at Cleveland Street, Doncaster. Witnesses were Robert Green, J Clayton and B Hawson ( probably Bertha, Harold's elder sister ).
Harold and Ellen had five sons and a daughter: George, Nellie, Sydney, Roland, William Birks, and Harold. The family emigrated to Australia early in the new century. Sydney (1880 - 1966) had married Lilian Margaret Dickinson (1882 - 1949) at Crookes in Sheffield in 1903. Sydney and Lilian's eldest son Harold, born 19 October 1909 in Mildura, married Mary Ann Jane Jordan of Mount Jeffcott. They were married at St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Mildura on 23 March 1937, by Rev W E Blackwood. Their children, all born in Mildura, were:
Harold Hawson senior died during a bombing raid on Sheffield whilst visiting England in 1940. His son, William Birks Hawson, was awarded a BEM for an outstanding record of community service in Mildura, Victoria in 1976.