Born in Worcestershire, Hesketh Pearson was educated at Bedford Grammar School; after a short period in the City he went on the stage. In the 1914-18 war he joined the army as a private, served for three years on the Mesopotamian front, and finished up as a captain.

In 1931 he left the stage in order to write biographies, two of which have already appeared in the penguin series: the life of his ancestor, Erasmus Darwin, and a Life of Shakespeare.