Prichard was the son of Charles Prichard, grocer, and his wife Agnes Westwood, née Pollard. He was one of a family of twelve who arrived in Victoria from Wales with their parents in 1852. Educated at Ararat, Prichard and his brother Frederick John Prichard both became journalists. He was editor of the Fiji Times, the Daily Telegraph (Launceston) and the Sun and Mining Standard (Melbourne). Prichard also contributed to the Leader and the Sydney Bulletin. In 1872-1874 he was a lieutenant in the Fijian Police. Prichard married Edith Isabel, née Fraser; their eldest child, born in Fiji, was Katharine Susannah Prichard . John Hay (1988) comments that 'Tom Prichard's succession of lost jobs and deepening depressive illness saw the family move from Fiji to Melbourne, to Launceston, Tasmania, and back to Melbourne where his wife worked as a seamstress.' The family furniture had to be auctioned and the family financial situation became dire with both parents in poor health.

In addition to his other literary endeavours Prichard's series of articles in the Fiji Times were published as The Land Tenure of Fiji (1882) by the Planters' Association of Fiji, and he edited A Roving Commission : naval reminiscences (1897) by Crawford Pasco, a British naval officer.

(Source: R. A. Ferrall, 'Prichard, Frederick John (1851 - 1920)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, MUP, 1988, pp 290-291; John Hay, 'Prichard, Katharine Susannah (1883 - 1969)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, MUP, 1988, pp 291-293; Miller, E. Morris and Macartney, Frederick T. Australian Literature: A Bibliography to 1938 Extended to 1950(1956): 390).