Thomas South Foxon was born in Liverpool, England on 3 October 1886. He was the son of John Foxon, a fishmonger, and Mary Ann South, one of their seven children. 

When he first went to sea is not certain, but he first appears on crew records in 1906 whilst a butcher aboard Empress of Britain.

He was married in Liverpool on 16 April 1905 to Florence Adelaide Richards (b. 1884) and they went on to have six children. 

In April 1912 Foxon was serving as chief butcher aboard the eastward-bound voyage of the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic. 

Thomas Foxon continued working at sea after the Titanic disaster and by 1939 was still a ship’s butcher. He died in Liverpool on 22 April 1942 and was buried in Anfield Cemetery (plot 827, section C/E20).