W.A.S. Hewins was born in 1865, and educated at Wolverhampton G.S. and Pembroke College, Oxford. He undertook postgraduate research in History under Sir Charles Harding Firth, and on leaving Oxford took part in university extension work. In 1895 he was invited to organise the London School of Economics, of which he was Director until 1903. He was also Tooke Professor of Economic Science and Statistics at King's College, London from 1897 to 1903 and held the chair of Modern Economic History at that University from 1902 to 1903.

In 1903 he was invited by Joseph Chamberlain to become Secretary of the Tariff Reform Commission, intended to promote Chamberlain's policy of safeguarding British industry and encouraging Imperial economic unity, a post which he held until 1917, serving as Chairman frrom 1920 to 1922.

During his political career he fought three unsuccessful by-elections before being returned as Conservative member for Hereford City in March 1912, representing the constituency until 1918. From 1915 he held various offices in the Unionist Business Committee and in the Empire Development Union.

In 1914 he became a Roman Catholic and acted as an adviser to Cardinal Bourne on political matters.

Hewins contributed numerous articles to periodicals and wrote several books, of which The Apologia of an Imperialist (1929) is largely autobiographical.