Alick George Horsnell [commonly known as Alick G. Horsnell; also known as Alex Horsnell] was born in Chelmsford, Essex, England in July 1881 and was articled to Frederic Wykeham Chancellor (1865-1945) in Chelmsford. He studied at Chelmsford School of Art. At some point [dates not known] he worked as an assistant to Ernest Newton (1856-1922) in London. He attended classes at the Architectural Association Schools in London and was awarded an AA travelling studentship enabling him to make a study tour of France and Italy. He was also awarded the RIBA Tite Prize in 1906 and the Soane Medallion in 1910. After practising as an architect in Chelmsford, he moved to London, and in 1914 set up his own independent practice.
Hornell was a fine perspectivist and in this capacity was employed by Newton and by Ralph Knott (1878-1929) for whom he drew the competition-winning drawings for the County Hall building in London in 1908.
In addition to his work as an architect, Horsnell was also an etcher, mainly of architectural subjects, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy and Royal Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers in London; and at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers in London (ARE) in 1912.
Horsnell was killed in action at the start of the Battle of the Somme in France on 1 July 1916, while serving in the Army in World War One. Examples of Horsnell's work as an artist are in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
‘Obituary’. Royal Institute of British Architects Journal vol. 23, 26 August 1916 pp. 306, 309