 He gained an MA from Queen's University Belfast, with a thesis on Ulster poets from 1800–1870, in 1951.In 1951 he had been appointed deputy director and keeper of art at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery but in 1957, Hewitt left to take up the position of Art Director at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, a position he held until 1972.While in Coventry, Hewitt started work on his unpublished autobiography, "A North Light".