Charles Hansom
Charles Francis Hansom (27 July 1817 – 30 November 1888) was a prominent Roman Catholic Victorian architect who primarily designed in the Gothic Revival style.
Also recorded as Charles Francis Hansom
Charles Hansom

David Dixon · From geograph.org.uk · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Charles Francis Hansom
- Born
- 27 July 1817
- Birthplace
- York
- Died
- 30 November 1888
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- architect
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Charles Francis Hansom (27 July 1817 – 30 November 1888) was a prominent Roman Catholic Victorian architect who primarily designed in the Gothic Revival style.
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Note VALÉORINE
Charles Hansom (1817–1888) was an architect, of British nationality. The architect was born in York. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 29 September 2026
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wikidata · Q5077776 · wikipedia · Charles Francis Hansom
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Charles Francis Hansom • Born — 27 July 1817 • Birthplace — York • Died — 30 November 1888 • Significant Projects — Clifton College, Malvern College
Career
Career
He was born to 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 practiced 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.
Clifton College
Clifton College
• Illustration — Clifton College's School House and Big School soon after they were built in the 1860s 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)
Works (new built)
• Our Lady the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Devizes, Wiltshire, 1865 • St Osburg's Church, Coventry, 1845 • St Anne's Church, Edge Hill, Liverpool, 1845–46 • Our Lady and St Alphonsus Church, Hanley Swan, Worcestershire, 1846 • St David Lewis and St Francis Xavier Church, Usk, Monmouthshire, 1847 • St David's Priory Church, Swansea, 1847 • Our Lady of Dolours chapel, Stapehill Abbey, Ferndown, Dorset, 1847–51 • Erdington Abbey, Erdington, Warwickshire, nr. Birmingham, 1848 • St Joseph's Church, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, 1850. • St Mary and St John Church, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, 1851 to 1855. • St Gregory's Roman Catholic Church, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 1854–77 • Plymouth Cathedral (with Joseph Hansom), 1856–58 • Our Lady of the Angels and St Peter in Chains Church, Stoke-on-Trent, 1857 • St Joseph's Church, Weston-super-Mare, 1858 • Little Malvern Court, Little Malvern, Worcestershire: west wing, 1860 • Eyre Memorial Chantry, Perrymead Roman Catholic cemetery, Lyncombe, Bath, Somerset, c.1860; altar carved by Boulton of Cheltenham to Hansom's design • St John's, Bath, Somerset, 1861–63 • Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, Broxwood, Herefordshire, 1863 • Rhydd Court, Guarlford, Worcestershire: chapel, 1863 • Malvern College, Worcestershire, 1863–71 • Church of St Mary, Bradenstoke, Wiltshire, 1866 • St Pauls, Clifton, 1867 • Church of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Souldern, Oxfordshire, 1869–70 • Woodchester Park, Nympsfield, Gloucestershire (first scheme) • Christ Church, Barton Hill, Bristol, 1883 (demolished 1957) • St Joseph and Teresa RC Church, Wells, Somerset, 1877 • St Clare's Abbey, Darlington (1856-7)
Remodellings
Remodellings
• St Stephen's Church, Bristol, 1880s.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1817
Charles Hansom born at York.
1888
Charles Hansom died.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The Victorial Society: Avon Group, 1979, page not cited
- 2.Pevsner, 1968, page 175
- 3.Newman & Pevsner, 1972, page 397
- 4.Upton-upon-Severn - St Joseph from Taking Stock, Historic England, retrieved 1 December 2024
- 5.Catholic Church of St Mary and St John, Wolverhampton from British Listed Buildings, retrieved 2 February 2016
- 6.Verey, 1970 vol. 2, page 128
- 7.Pevsner, 1968, page 215
- 8.1406474. Eyre Chantry (Roman Catholic Chapel), Perrymead Cemetery.
- 9.Pevsner, 1963, page 93
- 10.Pevsner, 1968, pages 167–68
- 11.1199972. Church of St Mary The Virgin, Bradenstoke. yes.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 8
- Clifton College archives
- Johnson, Michael A. The architecture of Dunn & Hansom. University of Northumbria. 2003.
- Johnson, Michael A. Architects to a Diocese: Dunn and Hansom of Newcastle. Northern Catholic History. 49. 3–17. 2008.
- Newman, John. Dorset. Penguin Books. 397. 1972. 0-14-071044-2.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus. Herefordshire. Penguin Books. 93. 1963.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus. Worcestershire. Penguin Books. 167, 168, 175, 215. 1968.
- Verey, David. Gloucestershire: The Vale and the Forest of Dean. Penguin Books. 2. 128. 1970.
- The Victorian Society: Avon Group. The Quick and the Dead: A Walk Round Some Bath Cemeteries. not stated. 1979.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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