Background
He was born in Bo"ness the third son of John Begg (1826-1878), an ironmonger and Justice of the Peace.
He was born in Bo"ness the third son of John Begg (1826-1878), an ironmonger and Justice of the Peace.
He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, 1879-1883.
He trained under Hippolyte Blanc and was later employed first by Alfred Waterhouse and later by Sir Robert William Edis. In 1896 he was appointed architect to the Real Estate Company of South Africa and moved to Johannesburg. He returned to Scotland due to the Boer War.
He arrived in India in 1901 as Consulting Architect to Bombay.
In 1906 he became Consulting Architect to the Government of India. He, with George Wittet, was responsible for the evolution of the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture.
Begg"s best-known building is the General Post Office in Bombay. In 1922 he adopted the role of Head of Architecture at the Edinburgh College of Artist
During his period there he brought in Frank Mears to teach under him.
He served as President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland in 1932. He died in 1937 and is buried in the Grange Cemetery, near its south-east corner, with an exceptionally modest stone.