to secure an appointment with the new Birmingham, Bristol and Thames Junction Railway Company (The West London Railway) to design an impressive scheme for carrying a roadway over the Paddington Arm of the Grand Junction Canal (now the Grand Union Canal); both of which then passed over the new railway. His success in designing this construction was much commented upon and assisted his election, in 1835, to Fellowship of the Institute of British Architects (now the Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA). Thereafter, Hosking continued to develop his interest in bridge design, though more academically, and went on to develop related interests in the construction of buildings for fire resistance, avoidance of damp, etc., which led to his being recognised as having competence in both civil engineering and architectural spheres. Congregationalists' non-denominational cemetery In 1839 Hosking was chosen by the newly formed Abney Park Cemetery Company to design the buildings and contribute to the layout of a landscaped park cemetery to serve the metropolis of London in which all parts would be open to the burial of anyone regardless of belief or denomination. The aim of the promoters of Abney Park Cemetery was to open the first wholly non-denominational garden cemetery in Europe. Hosking's brief was to design the cemetery's buildings to reflect this new liberal departure in burial reform, and to complement the cemetery's historic parkland setting, into which a magnificent arboretum and educational institute were also to be established. To complement Hosking's buildings, an appropriate landscape setting was designed and planted by George Loddiges. A landscape vaguely akin to rather simplified version of John Loudon's "gardenesque" style emerged around the perimeter, with the larger part of the estate remaining naturalistic and partially sylvan, possibly echoing the Rural Cemetery ideal emerging in America insofar as this was practicable in a country where landscape was no longer relatively unaffected by human activity. The uniquely attractive result was much favoured by Loudon, both as an exception to his preferred formal style of cemetery design, and to the "pleasure ground" style he disliked in other contemporary cemeteries such as at Norwood. Loudon was especially complementary towards Abney Park Cemetery since it offered an educational park, complete with an arboretum that was generally open to free public access, something that he had campaigned for in the vicinity of London. Hosking's clients, led by the Abney Park Cemetery's founder and indefatigable company secretary George