His father also worked as a builder. Thomas received his initial schooling from his mother at home until the age of eight when he went to school for the first time. After schooling in Bockhampton, he became an apprenticed to a local architect at age 16. He worked there with a specialization in the restoration of Churches until 1862 when he moved to London to study architecture at King's College, London. He did well in studies and was given prizes from the Royal Instituted of British Architects and the Architectural Association but he had developed a passion for writing by then and decided to take it as a career