This small high-wing monoplane airliner was designed to Air Ministry Specification 23/24. The very thick wing (RAF 31 section) had full-span leading edge slats connected to the slotted flaps and the ailerons were also slotted. The Hamlet, G-EBNS, which flew for the first time on 19th October 1926, normally had provision for four passengers as well as the pilot but was able to carry six passengers.
Initially powered by three 120 hp Bristol Lucifer IV engines, G-EBNS was re-engined in 1927 with two Armstrong Siddeley Lynx engines, and with a nose fairing added, a curved leading edge to the fin, and bearing the Aircraft Park number 14, it flew in this form at the RAF Display at Hendon in July of that year. Alternative engine arrangements proposed but not fitted were three 100 hp Bristol Lucifers or one 450 hp Bristol Jupiter.