Thomas was born on 10 October 1847 in Stepney. He was baptised at St Dunstan’s, Stepney, on 12 October 1851. In the 1871 census, he was age 23, unmarried, and living at 15 Louisa Street with his parents and brothers George and Mark; his occupation was noted as “packing casemaker”; he was still unmarried, living with his parents and in the same line of work when the 1881 census was undertaken . He appears in his father’s will dated February 1888. He is thought to have been a witness to the marriage of his brother Mark in 1890. He was not in the 1901 census; no likely date of death has been identified.