Born in England, at 16 he joined the Royal Navy as a boy seaman and served in the Pacific, Atlantic, and finally in the Arctic.  During this time he also apprenticed in the shop fitting trade and worked as a designer and architectural artist before immigrating to Canada in 1966.

In Vancouver he found the perfect environment for nurturing his life-long passion for the sea and its history. Many of his paintings incorporate recognizable shore features.  From vessels, harbors and major seaports to Canadian troops in the Arabian gulf, the subjects of Horton s paintings tell a story.  His paintings are meticulously researched, richly detailed and technically accurate.   For his series depicting Captain George Vancouver’s 18th-century voyages of exploration and discovery, for example, Horton himself sailed Vancouver’s routes, from the Olympic Peninsula to Alaska. 

He is a member of the Canadian Society of Marine Artists, the Federation of Canadian Artists and The Honorable Company of Master Mariners of Canada

In the late Dennis Brook-Hart’s definitive Twentieth Century Marine Painting, he is the only Canadian marine painter mentioned. 

In 2002 he accepted the Canadian government’s invitation to record the nation’s navy in action against terrorism in the Arabian Gulf.  In May 2002 Horton returned from a stint with the Canadian naval task group’s Operation Apollo in the Arabian Gulf.  His impressions of a modern navy in action are preserved on six canvases donated to the nation.  They reflect not only interdiction and boarding of suspect vessels but the dedication of the naval personnel themselves.

Sources include:

http://petleyjones.com/gallery-artists/john-horton/

http://marineguides.com/book/john-m-horton-mariner-artist/

http://johnhorton.ca/biography-about-john-m-horton/

Biography from the Archives of askART