Victor Daniel Horsburgh was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 9 December 1866. He was articled to Robert Rowand Anderson (1834-1921) of Wardrop, Anderson & Browne (from 1885 Wardrop & Anderson) from 1883 to 1888 and remained with him as his assistant until 1894. He then worked as chief assistant to George Lethbridge (1847?-1924) in London from 1894 to 1896. He also studied at the South Kensington Museum in London in 1894. Horsburgh qualified as an architect in 1894 and commenced independent practice in Edinburgh in 1896. In 1907 he won the RIBA Silver Essay Medal.
In 1910 he emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto, Ontario where he was architect to the Realty Company Ltd., a subsidiary of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, from 1910 to 1933 for whom he designed numerous branch offices and banks. In 1933 he moved to Victoria, British Columbia where he was briefly in private practice before retiring.
Horsburgh was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1896 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1912. He died in Oak Bay, British Columbia on 12 September 1947.
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
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 173, 3 October 1947 p. 383
‘Obituary’. Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Journal vol. 24, December 1947 p. 447