Reginald Buchanan Urquhart was born in Dysart, Scotland on 20 November 1883 and was articled to Thomas Hyslop Ure in Dunfermline in 1899. From 1903 to c.1905 he worked in the Superintending Engineer's office at H. M. Naval Establishment in Rosyth, and assisted in the planning and detailing of the new naval base there. In January 1906 he moved to London, where he was employed as a senior assistant in the London County Council Architects' Department as an assistant until 1945.
By the early 1930s, Urquhart was living in Southend-on-Sea, Essex and in 1930-31 attended the classes in architecture at the local art school. In 1931 he was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA). During the 1930s a number of architectural drawings by him were published in Country Life, The Studio, Builders' Journal and other magazines. Paintings by him were also exhibited at the South London Art Gallery. In 1945 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA). At the time of his death in August 1959 he was living at Rochford Road, Prittlewell, Essex.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 197, 28 August 1959 p. 102