Thomas Oliver was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, the son of the architect Thomas Oliver (1791-1857) on 8 September 1824. Following the death of his father he took over his practice. For a period of three years in the late 1850s and early 1860s he was in partnership in Newcastle-upon-Tyne with his former assistant Robert Lamb. He was also in partnership in Newcastle-upon-Tyne with Richard John Leeson (1850-1914) as Oliver & Leeson from 1879, and with William Henry Wood from 1898 as Oliver Leeson & Wood. Oliver died in 1902, but the name of the company remained unchanged for some years.
A drawing and a plan for a country house designed by Oliver Leeson & Wood are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1907 (p.37) and a drawing and ground- and first-floor plans of a house in Northumberland designed by Oliver Leeson & Wood are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1910 (p.64).
Oliver was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA). He was founder and twice president of the Northern Architectural Association. He died in Newcastle upon Tyne on 24 April 1902. His son was the architect Dale Oliver George Dale Oliver (1851-1928)
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 82, 3 May 1902 p. 452
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 9, 1902 p. 345