Horace Ridley Appelbee [also known as Horace Appelbee] was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England on 23 February. 1861 The 1881 England & Wales Census gives his occupation as Architect's Clerk. By 1885 he was practising as an architect in London, however it is not known where or with whom he received his training.
In 1910 he submitted an entry in a competition to design the Marylebone Municipal Buildings. His designs are illustrated in British Competitions in Architecture vol. 3, no. 36, August 1911 (pp. 364-365).
Appelbee's address was given as 10 Portland Terrace, Regent's Park, Middlesex, in 1885;
38 Welbeck Street, London in 1895; 3 Staple Inn, London in 1910; 15 Great James Street, London and 142 Camberwell Grove, London in 1911; and 1 Sanclu Mansions, Ramsgate, Kent in 1931. He died in Thanet, Kent in 1935