Thomas Henry Rutherford was the son of Henry and Elizabeth Rutherford. His father is described as a Bank Inspector ("at Colliery looking after traffic and cleaning coal"). At the time he was at the school they lived for some time in the office buldings at Harton Colliery.

He joined the High School at the age of 11 on a Corporation Scholarship, having previously attended Stanhope Road Elementary School.

When he left the school, at the age of 18, he was originally planning to be a clerk in the National Provincial Bank. Instead, the school records show that he ended up "in munition work".

He served as a Private with the Yorkshire Regiment, and was reported missing. It is unclear if he was ever found, but he was recorded as having been killed on 13-May-1917, at the age of 20, and his name appears on the Arras Memorial in Pas de Calais, France.