Laurence Digby Tomlinson was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England on 26 July 1893. It is not known where or with whom he trained as an architect. but in 1918 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA). He subsequently practised in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. By 1936 he was junior partner in the architectural firm Fitt, Prior-Hale & Tomlinson in Romford, Essex in Romford, Essex.
Tomlinson's address was given as “Harley House,” Harley Street, Leigh-oa-Sea, Essex in 1919; 27 Torquay Drive, Leigh-on- Sea, Essex 1920, 1923, 1926; 22 The Ridgeway, Southgate, London in 1930 and 1935; and Quadrant Arcade, Romford Essex in 1936 and 1939; and 27 Gladstone St Scarborough, Scarborough, Yorkshire in 1939. He died in Pontefract [or Scarborough], Yorkshire on 24 May 1966