The Air Ministry Specification 26/23 of August 1923, called for a two-seat long-range landplane bomber to be powered by a 650 hp Rolls-Royce Condor III. The Handley Page Type C7 Handcross competed against the Bristol Type 90 Berkeley, Hawker Horsley, and the Westland Yeovil. After flight tests the Horsley was declared winner of the contest and Hawkers received a production order in 1926.
The Handcross, J7498, which first flew in December 1924, was a large three-bay biplane and unlike its three competitors carried its 550 lb bomb load semi-internally in a fairing under the forward fuselage, although bombs could be carried under the wings. Armament comprised of a fixed forward firing gun in the starboard side of the cockpit, and the observer had a Lewis gun on a Scarff-ring mounted on the upper fuselage. Provision was also made for a ventral Lewis gun mounting aft of the bomb fairing.
Serial numbers J7499 and 50 were also allocated to the Handcross but these two aircraft may not have been built.