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

Charles Francis Hansom

Charles Francis Hansom was a prominent Roman Catholic Victorian architect who primarily designed in the Gothic Revival style.-Career:...

 and the nephew of Joseph Aloysius Hansom

Joseph Hansom

Joseph Aloysius Hansom was a prolific English architect working principally in the Gothic Revival style, who invented the Hansom cab and was one of the founders of the eminent architectural journal, The Builder, in 1843....

 (1803–1882), of an architectural dynasty from York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

. He was articled to his father in Bath in 1859 and was taken into partnership in 1867, when the practice was based in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. He moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1871 to enter into partnership with Archibald Matthias Dunn

Archibald Matthias Dunn

Archibald Matthias Dunn FRIBA, JP, born in Wylam in Northumberland, was with his partner Edward Joseph Hansom, among the foremost Catholic architects in North East England during the Victorian era.-Biography:...

 (1832–1917), 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

Downside Abbey

The Basilica of St Gregory the Great at Downside, commonly known as Downside Abbey, is a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery and the Senior House of the English Benedictine Congregation. One of its main apostolates is a school for children aged nine to eighteen...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 (1882); St Bede's College, Alexandra Park, Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

; Our Lady Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church, North Berwick (1879); St Mary's RC Cathedral, military memorial, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 (1889); and the baptistery to St John's Church, Bath

St John's Church, Bath

St. John the Evangelist R.C. Church is located on the South Parade in the southeast section of Bath City Centre, in the old Ham District where Georgian architect John Wood the Elder had originally planned his forum...

(1871).