Edward Joseph Hansom

Who was Edward Joseph Hansom?

Edward Joseph Hansom was an English Victorian architect who specialised in ecclesiastical buildings in Gothic Revival style, including many Roman Catholic churches.

He was the son of Charles Francis Hansom and the nephew of Joseph Aloysius Hansom, of an architectural dynasty from York. He was articled to his father in Bath in 1859 and was taken into partnership in 1867, when the practice was based in Bristol. He moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1871 to enter into partnership with Archibald Matthias Dunn, practising under the name of Dunn and Hansom.

Hansom was admitted ARIBA in 1868 and FRIBA in 1881. He served as President of the Northern Architects' Association in 1889-90 and was the first to represent the region on the RIBA Council.

After a long period of ill-health, Hansom suffered from depression such that he was unable to work and shot himself in the office and died on 27 May 1900.

Notable work includes the transepts, representing the first phase of building, to Downside Abbey, Somerset; St Bede's College, Alexandra Park, Manchester; Our Lady Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church, North Berwick; St Mary's RC Cathedral, military memorial, Edinburgh; and the baptistery to St John's Church, Bath.