Charles Francis Hansom

Charles Francis Hansom
Born	27 July 1817(1817-07-27)[1] York
Died	30 November 1888(1888-11-30) (aged 71)[1]
Nationality	English
Work
Projects	Clifton College, Malvern College

Charles Francis Hansom (1817–88) was a prominent Roman Catholic Victorian architect who primarily designed in the Gothic Revival style.

Career

He was born of a Roman Catholic family in York. He was the brother of Joseph Aloysius Hansom, architect and creator of the Hansom cab, and father of the architect Edward Joseph Hansom. He practised in partnership with his brother, Joseph, in London from 1854. This partnership was dissolved in 1859 when Charles established an independent practice in Bath with his son Edward (born 22 October 1842) as an articled clerk. He took his son into partnership in 1867, by which time the practice had moved to Bristol, with a large West Country practice of church and collegiate architecture. In Bristol he took on Benjamin Bucknall as an assistant.

He was commonly known as Francis the Hansom, as he was rather handsome.^{[citation needed]}

Clifton College

Clifton College's School House and Big School soon after they were built in the 1860's

The original Clifton College buildings were all designed by Hansom.

His first design at Clifton was for Big School (then a meeting hall and now the school canteen) and a proposed dining hall. Only the former was actually built and a small extra short wing was added in 1866. This is what now contains the Marshal's office and the new staircase into Big School.

Hansom was called back to the College in the 1870s and asked to design what is now the Percival Library and the open-cloister classrooms. This project was undertaken in two stages and largely completed by 1875, although the Wilson Tower was not built until 1890.

Works (new built)

• Our Lady and St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church, Hanley Swan, Worcestershire, 1846^[2]
• Our Lady of Dolours chapel, Holy Cross Abbey, Stapehill, Dorset, 1847–51^[3]
• Erdington Abbey, Erdington, Birmingham, 1848
• St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 1854–77^[4]
• Altar in Gothic Mortuary Chapel, Perrymead Roman Catholic Cemetery (altar carved by Boulton of Cheltenham, lodge and chapel designed in 1855 by a Mr. Hill)
• Plymouth Cathedral (with Joseph Hansom), 1856–58
• Little Malvern Court, Little Malvern, Worcestershire: west wing, 1860^[5]
• St John's, Bath, Somerset, 1861–63
• Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, Broxwood, Herefordshire, 1863^[6]
• Rhydd Court, Guarlford, Worcestershire: chapel, 1863^[2]
• Malvern College, Worcestershire, 1863–71^[7]
• Church of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Souldern, Oxfordshire, 1869–70
• Papal Count Eyre Memorial Chantry, Perrymead Roman Catholic Cemetery, Lyncombe, Bath, Somerset
• Woodchester Park, Nympsfield, Gloucestershire (first scheme)
• Christ Church, Barton Hill, Bristol, 1883 (demolished 1957)

Remodellings

• St. Stephen, Bristol, 1880s.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The Victorial Society: Avon Group, 1979, page not cited
2. ^ ^{a b} Pevsner, 1968, page 175
3. ^ Newman & Pevsner, 1972, page 397
4. ^ Verey, 1970 vol. 2, page 128
5. ^ Pevsner, 1968, page 215
6. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 93
7. ^ Pevsner, 1968, pages 167-68

Sources

• Clifton College archives^{[clarification needed]}
• Johnson, Michael A (2003). The architecture of Dunn & Hansom. MA Dissertation. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: University of Northumbria. 
• Johnson, Michael A (2008). "Architects to a Diocese: Dunn and Hansom of Newcastle". Northern Catholic History (49): 3–17. 
• Newman, John; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1972). Dorset. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 397. ISBN 0 14 071044 2. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1963). Herefordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 93. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1968). Worcestershire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 167, 168, 175, 215. 
• Verey, David (1970). Gloucestershire: The Vale and the Forest of Dean. The Buildings of England. 2. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 128. 
• The Quick and the Dead: A Walk Round Some Bath Cemeteries. The Victorian Society: Avon Group. 1979. p. not stated. 

Persondata
Name	Hansom, Charles Francis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 July 1817
Place of birth	York
Date of death	1888
Place of death