Thomas Elson Hardy was born in Ashby De La Zouch, Leicestershire, England on 15 November 1872. From 1889 to 1892 he was articled to George Yates Mills (1855-1923) in Derby. He then worked as an assistant to Edwin Otto Sachs (1870-1919) and Ernest Augustus Eckett Woodrow (1860-1937) of Sachs & Woodrow; to Charles Bell (1846-1899); to Walter Ernest Hewitt (1865-1919); and to Charles Clowes at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900.
Hardy commenced independent practice in London in 1901. In 1903 he formed a partnership with William Archibald Harris (1877-?) as Hardy & Harris in London. Hardy was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1911.
His address was given as 12 Aberdeen Place, Maida Valer, London in 1899; 7 Great Chapel Street, Westminster, London in 1901 and 1911; and 5 Delamere Street, Paddington 1911 and 1938
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001