List of people from Hawkhurst

• George Goschen (1866–1952), Member of Parliament, Governor of Madras and Acting Viceroy of India from 1929 to 1931.
• Rod Kedward (born 1937), historian.
• Nathaniel Lardner (1684–1768), theologian.
• John Leaney (chr, 1790), cricketer.
• William Leaney, cricketer.
• Tim Richmond (born 1959), photographer
• Charles Willis (1827–1895), cricketer.
• Amy Hamer (born 1998), cheerleader

These people attended Marlborough House School.

• Wilbert Awdry (1911–1997), clergyman and author.
• David Gower (born 1957), cricketer.
• Stephen Poliakoff (born 1952), playwright.
• Peter Vansittart (1920–2008), novelist.

These people attended St Ronan's School during the time it has been based in Hawkhurst (since 1946).

• Raymond Bonham Carter (1929–2004), banker.
• Nick Brown (born 1950), MP.
• Richard Bridgeman (born 1947), peer and restaurateur.
• Frank Gardner (born 1961), journalist.
• Philip Langridge (1939–2010), musician.
• John Palmer (born 1940), hereditary peer

These people have a connection with Hawkhurst

• William Angliss (1865–1957), businessman, was educated in Hawkhurst.
• Edward Crankshaw (1909–1984), writer, lived in Hawkhurst at the time of his death.
• Thomas Dunk (died 1718), Sheriff of London in 1711, lived in Hawkhurst.
• John Herschel (1792–1871), astronomer, lived in Hawkhurst at the time of his death.
• George Kilburne, (1839–1924) artist, was educated in Hawkhurst.
• John Mayers (1801–1865), cricketer, lived in Hawkhurst at the time of his death.
• William Penn, (1644–1718), founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, now the American State of Pennsylvania, owned an ironworks at Hawkhurst.
• William Rootes (1894–1964), established Rootes Motors in 1909 in Hawkhurst.
• The Hawkhurst Gang, smugglers active from 1735 to 1749, were named after the village. They were based at the Oak and Ivy Inn.