Alan Gosset James [1] was born in Prestbury, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire on 15 August 1875 and was articled to Henry Allen Prothero (1848-1906) and George Henry Phillott (1851?-1926) of Prothero & Phillott in Cheltenham from 1893 to 1897. He then worked as an assistant to William Muskett Yetts (c.1859-1924), Francis John Sturdy (1853-1942) and Arthur Frederick Usher (1867-1932) of Yetts, Sturdy & Usher in London in 1897-98; to Charles Henry Worley (1857-1906) in London; and in the Local Government Board Architects' Department from 1898 to 1900.
James commenced independent practice as an architect in Liverpool in 1900 and from 1900 to 1904 was in partnership with Henry Langton Beckwith (1861-1940). From 1904 to 1908 he taught in at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London. From 1908 he practised in London and in 1911 was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA).
In addition to his work as an architect, James was also a painter and attended classes at Cheltenham School of Art and Chelsea School of Art. Between 1911 and 1941 he exhibited sporadically at the Royal Academy in London. He also exhibited at the New English Art Club and Goupil Gallery in London.
By the mid 1920s James appears to have abandoned architecture and subsequently pursued a career as a full-time artist. His name does not appear in the Kalendar of the Royal Institute of British Architects after the 1926-27 edition and in the 1939 National Register he gave his occupation as Artist Painter
His address was given as 17 North Street, Westminster, London in 1911 and 1914; 4 Tufton Street, Westminster, London in 1920; 19 Formosa Street, Maida Hill, London in 1937; and 3 Evesham Road, Stow-On-The-Wold, Gloucestershire in 1939 and 1950. He died on 17 August 1950
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Note: Some sources state that early in his career James spent a period of time living South Africa where he practised as an architect and worked as a journalist, but so far no evidence has been traced to support this. His address is not given in the Kalendar of the RIBA in the mid-1920s and it may have been it was then that he lived in South Africa.
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[1] The Kalendar of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1912-13 to 1926-27 gives his middle name as Gossett, however, it is given as Gosset in the England And Wales Census in 1881 and 1911
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-J London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001