Brewer. Born in Edinburgh, the son of spirit merchant and entrepreneur Andrew Usher (c.1782 - 1855), who set Thomas and his elder brother James up in a brewery business. In 1860, they moved their successful business to the Park Brewery, which lay adjacent to Holyrood Park in the St. Leonards district of Edinburgh. His brother having died in 1862, Usher took sole ownership of the business. The company was taken over by the English Vaux Breweries in 1959, although the Usher name persisted. By 1976, the company employed 2500 people and owned 235 public houses. It eventually suffered bankruptcy and the Park Brewery closed in 1981. The most modern part of it remains as a DIY warehouse on St Leonard's Street.