Thomas Rickman was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England on 8 June 1776. His father was a surgeon and he also trained in the medical profession practisng first in London from 1797 to 1801 and then in Lewes, Sussex from 1801 to 1803. In 1803 he abandoned medicine and embarked in what was to prove an unsuccessful business venture. In 1808 he moved to Liverpool where he worked as an insurance clerk. It was at this time that he developed an interest in architecture and lectured and wrote a number of articles and essays on the subject. He was champion of Gothic architecture, a style he helped to promote through his influential book An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation. First published in 1817, it ran through to seven editions by 1901.
His writings led to him receiving a commission to design several churches in the Liverpool area from John Cragg, the owner of a local iron foundry. In December 1817 Rickman established an architectural practice in Liverpool and the following year took Henry Hutchinson (1800–1831) as his pupil and assistant, making him a partner in his practice in 1821.
In 1820 Rickman settled in Birmingham where he opened a second office at 5 Cannon Street. He relocated the practice to 45 Ann Street, Birmingham in 1826. Hutchinson died in November 1831. Rickman was then in partnership his brother, Edwin Swan Rickman (1790-1873), until 1834 when he was replaced by Richard Charles Hussey (1802-1887).
Rickman was plagued by ill health in the 1830s and subsequently retired in c.1838, leaving the practice to Hussey. Rickman died at his home, 17 Albion Street, Birmingham on 4 January 1841. Hussey continued to run the practice for a number of years.
Church of St. George, Everton, neasr Liverpool (1812-14); Church of St. Michael in the Hamlet, Liverpool (1814-15); Church of St. Philip, Liverpool (1816); Church at Runcorn, Cheshire (1819); Church of St. Mary, Birkenhead, Cheshire (1819-21); Church of St. George, Tower Street, Birmingham (1819-22); Town Hall, Clothero, Lancashire (1820); Rebuilding of the Church of St,. Mary, Barnsley, Yorkshire (1820-21); Church of St. George, Chorley, Lancashire (1820-24); Church of St. George, Chorley, Lancashire (1820-24); Church of St. George, Barnsley, Yorkshire (1821-22); News Room, Preston, Lancashire (1822); Church of St, Barnabas, high Street, Erdington, Birmingham (1822); Christ Church, Brunswick Square, Gloucester (1822-23); Church of St. Peter, Hampton Lucy, Warks (1822-26); The Down House, Stourton, Gloucestershire (1823); Alterations to drawing room of Thornhill House, Handsworth, Birmingham (1823); Rebuilding of Church of St. Mary, St. Mary's Row, Moseley (1823-24); Church of St. Peter, Preston, Lancashire (1923-25); Church of St. Paul, Preston, Lancashire (1823-25); Alterations to Ettingham Park, Warwickshire (1824); Church of St. David, Glasgow (1824-25); The Grove, Kirkpatrick-Irongray, near Dumfries (1825); Court House, Preston, Lancashire (1825); Church of St. Mary, Mellor, near Blackburn, Lancashire (1825-27); Church of St. Peter, Dale End, Birmingham (1825-27); Church of St. Andrew, Ombersley, Worcestershire (1825-29); Lower Darwen Church, near Blackburn, Lancashire (1825-29); The Watt Chapel in the Church of St. Mary, Hamstead Road, Hamsworth, Birmingham (1826); Additions to the Church of St. John the Baptist, Hagley, Worcestershire (1826); New Offices for Rickman practice at 45 Anne Street, Birmingham (1826); Repairs and additions to the Church of St. Michael, Great Tew, Oxfordshire (1826-27); Church of St. Thomas, Bath Row, Holloway Head, Birmingham (1826-29); Additions to Christ Church, Coventry (1826-29); Badgewoirth Court, Badgeworth, near Gloucestyer (1827); Lough Fea, Ireland (1827); Brunstock, near Carlisle (1827-28); Burfield Lodge, near Bristol (1827-28); Enlargement of Church of St. Mary, Harborne, Birmingham (1827-29); Church of Holy Trinity, Over Darwen, near Blackburn, Lancashire (1827-29); Church of St. John, Oulton, Yorkshire (1827-29); Church at Pemberton, near Wigan, Lancashire (1827-30); The New Court, St. John's College, and the 'Bridge of Sighs' over the River Cam, Cambridge (1827-31); Additions to Public News Room, Temple Row, Birmingham (1828); Exhibition Rooms for the Society of Arts, New Street, Birmingham (1828); Church of All Saints, Canterbury, Kent (1828); Rebuilding of Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Clithero, Lancashire (1828-29); Additions to Rose Castle, Cumberland (1828-29); Christ Church, Carlisle (1828-30); Church of Holy Trinity, Carlisle (1828-30); Church of St. John, Whittle-le-Woods, near Leyland, Lancashire (1828-30); Matfen Hall, Matfen, Northumberland (1828-32); Master's House at Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Edgbaston, Nirmingham (1829); Drapers' Hall, Bayley Lane, Coventry (1829); Church of Holy Trinity, Bristol (1829-31); Two houses in Islington Row, Edgbaston, Birmingham (1830); Bank for Birmingham Banking Company, Temple Row, Birmingham (1830); Addition to Church of St. Andrew, Rugby, Warwickshire (1830); The News Room and Library, Carlisle (1830); Rebuilding of Church of St. Helen, Albury, Oxfordshire (1830); ; Additions to Baynards Park, Surrey (1830); Alterations to Weston Park Park, Staffordshire (1830-31); Alterations to Stanwick Park, Yorkshire (1830-31); Christ Church, Grayfriars, Warwick Lane, Coventry (1830-32); Bordesley School, Camp Hill, Birmingham, (1831); Church of St. Jude, Liverpool (1831); Addition of tower and belfry to Church at Saffron Walden, Essex (1831-32); Church of St. David, Haigh, near Wigan, Lancashire (1831-33; Church of St. Stephen, Tockholes, near Blackburn, Lancashire (1831-33); Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Redditch, Worcestershire (1831-33); Wood House, Tettenhall, Staffordshire (1831-36); Church at Lower Hardress, Kent (1832); Lodge at Entrance to Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, Birmingham (1832); Extension and repairs to Bablake School and Bonds Hospital, Coventry (1832-34); Church of All Addition to All Saints Street, Birmingham (1833); House in Rugby, Warwickshire for H. S. Gipps (1833); House in Liverpool for George Smith (1833); House in Liverpool for Colin Campbell (1833); Rebuilding of Church of St. Margaret, Ward End, Birmingham (1834); Asylum for the Blind and chapel, Bristol (1834-37); Church of All Saints, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire (1835-37); Restoration and alterations to Church of St. Mary, Henbury, near Bristol (1836); Rebuilding of nave of St. James, Hartlebury, Worcestershire (1836-37); Church of Holy Ascension, Settle, Yorkshire (1837-38); Christ Church, Clevedon, Somerset (1838); Bishop Ryder Church, Great Lister Street, Birmingham (1838); Church of St. Stephen, Sneiton, Nottinghamshire (1838-39); Rebuilding of Church of St. Martin, Horsley, Gloucestershire (1838-39); and Internal works to Church of St. John the Baptist, Halesown, Worcestershire (1838-39).
Aldrich, Megan. ‘Gothic architecture illustrated: the drawings of Thomas Rickman in New York’. Antiquaries Journal vol. 65, 1985 pp. 427-433
Aldrich, Megan Brewster. Thomas Rickman (1776–1841) and Architectural Illustration of the Gothic Revival. M.Phil. thesis, Toronto University, 1983
Aldrich, Megan Brewster. Thomas Rickman and the Victorians. London : The Victorian Society, 2019
Baily, John Leslie. Thomas Rickman, Architect and Quaker: the Early Years to 1818. Ph. D. thesis, University of Leeds, 1977
Blamires, David, et al. A Quaker miscellany for Edward H. Milligan. Manchester: David Blamires of London: Friends Book Centre, 1985.
Colley, E. D. The Life and Works of Thomas Rickman, FSA, Architect. M.A. thesis, University of Birmingham, 1962
Granelli, Remo. ‘Thomas Rickman’ in Birmingham’s Victorian and Edwardian Architects, edited by Phillada Ballard. Wetherby, Yorkshire: Oblong Creative for the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society, 2009 pp. 3-24
Hadfield, Miles. ‘In the Gothic taste’. Country Life vol. 119, 21 June 1956 p. 1373 [St. George’s, Birmingham designed by Rickman and built 1820-23]
Hadfield, Miles. ‘Rickman churches in Birmingham’. Country Life vol. 124, 24 September 1958 pp. 600-603
Hadfield, Miles. [Reply by the author to ‘Reply to ‘Rickman churches in Birmingham by Miles Hadfield’ by George E. Powell].
James, Ann. ‘Rickman and the Fitzwilliam Competition’. Architectural Review vol. 121, April 1957 pp. 270-271 [Discusses Thomas Rickman’s entry to design the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge]
Jelley, F. R. ‘Six of the best: Thomas Rickman’. The Builder vol. 211, 7 October 1966 p. 102 [Discusses Rickman’s book An attempt to discriminate the styles of architecture in England : from the Conquest to the Reformation (1817)]
Port, M. H. 'Thomas Rickman (1776-1841): "A name to whom we owe, perhaps, more than any other"'. in Episodes in the Gothic Revival: Six Church Architects, edited by Christopher Webster. Reading, Berkshire: Spire Books Ltd., 2011 pp. 45-98
Powell, George E. ‘Reply to ‘Rickman churches in Birmingham’ by Miles Hadfield’.Country Life vol. 124, 24 September 1958 pp. 600-603
Rickman, Thomas. An attempt to discriminate the styles of architecture in England: from the Conquest to the Reformation. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, 1817
Rickman, Thomas Miller. Notes on the life and on the several imprints of the work of Thomas Rickman, F.S.A., architect. London: G.J.W. Pitman, 1901.
Smith, J. S. Boys. ‘Thomas Rickman, architect of the New Court’. The Eagle vol. 67, 1974–77) pp. 19–21
Whiffen, Marcus. ‘The Architectural Review, Gothic number: Act 2: Romantic Gothic, Scene 2: Rickman and Cambridge’. Architectural Review vol. 98, December 1945 pp. 160-165