Thomas was born in
Paisley, Renfrewshire; he was the youngest son of William Galloway (1799–1854), a shawl manufacturer and coal master of Paisley and Margaret Lindsay (1818–1902). He was educated at
Glasgow University where he studied under
Lord Kelvin and was selected by him to travel to the sea off of
Brazil to carry out the '
piano wire method' of
deep sea soundings. The measuring equipment used by him is kept in the 'Kelvin Room' of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. On his return from Brazil he concentrated on his studies of mining becoming a mining manager in East Scotland on 10 July 1876, and a member of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers (NEIMME) on 2 Sept 1876, when he was aged 31, at the Argyll Colliery,
Campbeltown,
Kintyre. He was also elected a Fellow of the Kintyre Archaeological Society in 1876, an interest he later shared with his wife. H was also a founder member and elected Vice Chairman at the inaugural meeting of the Kintyre Scientific Association on 24 October 1890. While in Kintyre he became involved as chief engineer for the
Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway which served his colliery. He died on 22 September 1921 at Kilchrist, Campbeltown, Kintyre. His obituary was placed in the Proceedings of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, and
The Geological Society of 1922. == Literary career and inventions ==