Thomas King was born in Melbourne, Australia on 17 January 1899, the son of a barrister. He was educated at Xavier College, Melbourne, and Melbourne University. He qualified MB BS in 1924, MD 1932 and obtained the FRCS in 1934. He was elected FRACS in 1934 and the same year appointed honorary orthopaedic surgeon to St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. He wrote numerous papers on orthopaedic surgery. He married Nina M Keynes in 1927 and they had one daughter and two sons, one of whom is a neurosurgeon and the other an orthopaedic surgeon. He died in 1974 aged 75 years.