Bernard John Dicksee was born in St. Pancras, Middlesex [now London], England in 1858 He worked as a draughtsman's assistant to the engineers Robert James Ransome (1830-1891) and Richard Christopher Rapier (1836-1897) of Ransome & Rapier from 1875; and to Edward Baddeley from 1878. He trained as an architect at the Royal Academy Schools from 1879 to c.1886 and qualified as an architect in 1888. He had already had already established an architectural practice in London in 1883. In 1893 he was appointed the District Surveyor for Southwark, a post he held until 1926. During World War Two and until 1947 he worked for the War Damage Commission. He was also Honorary architect to the National Children's Adoption Commission.
Dicksee was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1888 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1904. He died in Hampstead, Middlesex [now London] London in 1948
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001