AT the entrance to Kirkgate, the replica of a Victorian street at the York Castle Museum, you can see a fine example of a Hansom cab.
It was revolutionary for its time as it combined speed with safety. In fact, it was originally called the Hansom safety cab. It was light enough to be pulled by a single horse and agile enough to turn corners effectively and navigate the traffic jams of London.
At the height of their popularity, there were several thousand hansom cabs in use, and they quickly spread to other cities in the UK as well as continental European cities such as Paris, Berlin and St Petersburg and later New York.
And it all began with the York architect Joseph Aloysius Hansom.
Born in the parish of St Martin’s, York on 26 October 1803, Joseph Hansom was the second eldest of a large family that was already well-established in the city.
An example of a Hansom cab
His father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been in the building trade in York and had all been granted the status of Freemen of the City. Joseph left school at the tender age of 13. He was briefly articled to his father who was a joiner, but soon became an apprentice to the York architects Matthew Phillips and Peter Atkinson.
In 1825 he moved to train further under Halifax architect John Oates, and it was here that Hansom acquired an in-depth knowledge of Classical Roman and Gothic styles which he was to use in his later work. In the same year, he married Hannah Glover at St Michael-le-Belfrey in York. While working for John Oates he met the brothers John and Edward Welch with whom, three years later, he formed the first of his many architectural partnerships.
This partnership was responsible for the design of several churches in Yorkshire and Liverpool as well as their ill-fated contract to build the classical Birmingham Town Hall. Their designs for this building were accepted in 1831, but the project ran into financial difficulties which left them bankrupt.
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After leaving York, Hansom spent much of his life entering into partnerships with different architects, including some of his own relatives and famous figures such as Augustus Pugin. He was constantly packing up and moving on to places wherever there was work to be done.
It’s a testament to his creativity and sense of purpose that he was such a successful designer of so many diverse buildings such as King William’s College in the Isle of Man, St George’s Church in York, Saint Beuno’s Jesuit College, the Oxford Oratory, Lutterworth Town Hall and the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery building.
Hansom was a brilliantly creative architect and designer but wasn’t always successful in business matters. So how did he come to design a revolutionary vehicle?
After the Birmingham Town Hall débâcle, Hansom decided to move himself and his family to Hinckley in Leicestershire where he was offered a job with the wealthy banker and landowner Dempster Hemming. Hansom’s professional duties were partly to look after the management of Hemming’s home, Caldecott Hall, and its 1200-acre estate.
Hansom built a home for himself at Mill Farm on the estate and his employer allowed him to continue with private architectural work. It was here that Joseph Hansom designed his Patent Safety Cab (No. 6733) with the backing and encouragement of his patron. The engineer John Chapman and several others modified the original design but retained the name Hansom. In 1835, Joseph drove his first Hansom cab along Regent Street in Hinckley, on to Coventry Road and then set off along the Watling Street towards London.
But did this invention make Hanson a multi-millionaire? Not at all! In fact, Hansom sold his patent in 1836 and accepted a price of £10,000 which in today’s money would have been worth almost £1,500,000. Hansom suffered yet another setback when the company he sold the patent to ran into its own financial difficulties and failed to pay him the agreed payment. Hansom was obliged to settle for £300.
Joseph Hansom may not have been successful in his financial affairs, but he was driven by a desire to design buildings and exercise his considerable talents in doing so. But that wasn’t all. His intellectual energy took him in other directions.
In 1842, he brought out the first edition of The Builder, though it wasn’t a financial success for him either. However, Hansom left his mark on posterity here too, and the magazine still survives as Building. Last year, Building celebrated its 180th anniversary.
While in Birmingham, Hansom became involved in politics. He befriended the social reformer Robert Owen and designed Harmony Hall for him. (It was later renamed Queenswood College, Hampshire). In fact, Hansom was known by his contemporaries as the ‘socialist architect’. He was motivated by strong humanitarian principles, love for his family and friends, and a concern for working people. And he even found time to keep a pet Golden Eagle. All this was underpinned by the strong Roman Catholic faith he inherited from his family.
Joseph Hansom retired to London where he lived at 28 Sumner Place and died at the age of 78 on June 28, 1882 at 399 Fulham Road. He was buried at the Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Fulham on July 3.
David Wilson is a community writer with The Press
