Born in East Ham, then Essex, Thomas was the son of Thomas and Charlotte (nee Hodsdon) Mathews, Farmers. Father Thomas was also born in East Ham In 1861, father Thomas, with Charlotte, was farming in his own right, at Mathews Farm House, Church Road, East Ham. He was farming 600 acres, employing 65 Workers men and boys. They had Marion, 5, Thomas, 3 and Annie, 1. Farming with Thomas was his unmarried brother, and they had a Housemaid and a Nurse. 10 years later, now at Redhouse Land, Plasket House, in East Ham, Thomas was described as a Landowner. He and Charlotte had a House Servant. (Plasket House in Essex, was a beautiful country place, but is now covered by the crowded population of East Ham. It was earlier home to the family of Elizabeth Fry, a famous philanthropist.) Son Thomas was a Boarder at a School in Queens Parade, Cheltenham. His brother John, aged 8, was at a school in Wanstead. Sisters Annie and Marion, were at a school in Lansdowne Place, in Brighton. In 1881, Thomas was farming at Harlowbury, Essex. He had 324 acres and was employing 30 men and 6 boys. He had a Housekeeper and a Groom.
On 9th February, 1882 in Mere, Wiltshire, Thomas married Harriet Marsh. Harriett Marsh was born on the 27th October 1859, to farmer Henry Marsh and his wife Ellen (nee Burt) in Sutton Mandeville, Wiltshire. In 1861, at Sutton Mandeville, were Henry, a Farmer of 554 acres, and employer of 13 men and 2 boys, born Heytesbury, Wiltshire, Ellen, with their 6 children, a Governess, and 3 female Servants. Harriett then had 5 siblings: Ellen, Elizabeth, Charles, Henry and William, all born in Sutton Mandeville. In 1871, 12-year-old Harriett and her 5-year-old brother Edward, were staying with Farmer Thomas Harding in Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, and his wife, Henrietta, their Aunt. In 1881, now 22, Harriett was still with the Hardings, in Rodmead Farm House, described as having no profession. She was brought up by her Aunt Henrietta. Her Uncle Thomas was one of the witnesses at her wedding..
Thomas and Harriet went on to have seven children: Thomas Gurney, John Kenneth, Stanley, Charles Bernard, Winifred, Harold and Edith Marion, all born in Harlow. In Old Road, Harlowbury, in 1891, Harriett and Thomas, a Farmer, had 5 children, Stanley, 6, Charles Bernard, 5, Winifred, 3, Harold, 1, and Edith, less than 2 months. They also had a Nurse and Under-Nurse, a Housemaid and a Cook. In 1901 Thomas was living at Montfort House, Chigwell, farming with his father Thomas and younger brother John. Meanwhile Harriet was living in School House Road, Codford St Peter, Wiltshire, with Thomas Gurney, Winifred and Edith, all Pupils. There was a Governess, a Housemaid and a Cook there too. In the same Household was the National School Teacher, Frank Clarke, aged 25. Codford is in the Whyke Valley, South of Salisbury, now named Codford as the result of the merger of Codford St Peter with Codford St Mary. In 1911 the family was back together, in Codford. Thomas, Farmer, Harriet, Thomas Gurney (Farmer's son working on the farm), Charles Bernard, a Civil Engineer, Winifred and Edith Marion. They had a Housemaid, Cook and Domestic Maid. In 1917, Thomas was described as a Gentleman, at the marriage, at St Peter's Church Cranley Gardens in London, of his daughter Edith Marion to John Myddleton Ashcroft, a Lieutenant in the Indian Cavalry, his address being London SW.
Thomas died in October 1927 and was buried on the 27th. His address was Holmsdale, Lansdowne Road. He left £22,722 and Probate was given to Thomas Gurney Mathews, Farmer, John Kenneth Mathews, Fruit Grower and Cyril Baddeley, Solicitor.