Hinton was born in Tisbury, Wiltshire, on 12 May 1901 and educated at Chippenham Grammar School. After serving an apprenticeship he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. He worked at ICI (Alkali) Northwich from 1931-40, when he was seconded to the Ministry of Supply. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Director-General of Filling Factories (1942-6); Deputy Controller, Atomic Energy (Production), Ministry of Supply (1946-54); and as a Member of Board for Engineering and Production and Managing Director of the Industrial Group, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (1954-57). He later served as Chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board (1957-64) and as Deputy Chairman of the Electricity Supply Council (1965-83).

Under Hinton's direction the fuel and enrichment plants at Springfields and Capenhurst, the original reactors and fuel reprocessing plant at Windscale, Calder Hall and Chapelcross nuclear power stations and the Dounreay Experimental Reactor Establishment were built.

He was knighted in 1951; became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1954; was awarded a life peerage in 1965; and the Order of Merit in 1976. He published "Engineers and Engineering" (1970) and "Heavy Current Electricity in the United Kingdom: history and Development" (1979).

He died in 1983.