Thomas left school at the age of 14 to be thrust unwillingly into an engineering apprenticeship.

At the end of this seven and a half year period, and having reached the age of 21, he enrolled as a composition student at the RNCM for a year -  although there was no serious provision for this at the time, apart from instruction in harmony and counterpoint.

In 1947 he was invited to join the College staff.

He became Professor of Composition, transferring to the RNCM where he taught until his seventieth birthday.

Thomas' work has been printed by 60 publishers, including five foreign companies.

In addition to this, he has had several textbooks published.

Thomas Pitfield’s webpage at Piper Publications