Joseph Hansom is probably most familiar to the modern mind for his invention of the “Patent Safety Cab” in 1834. The Hansom cab with its two large wheels, closed carriage and suspended axle became a distinctive feature of the 19th-century London street scene.
Joseph Hansom was born in 1803 at 63 Micklegate, York, the second of nine children in a staunch Catholic family. In 1816 he was apprenticed to his joiner father. His aptitude for draughtsmanship and construction allowed his transfer to a York architect called Matthew Philips. About 1825, a marriage took place with Hannah Glover in York and they moved to Halifax.
