Thomas Burrowes enlisted as a young man in the Royal Sappers and Miners, a remarkable corps of military tradesmen that offered what, for its time, was an unusual program of technical education. Most of Burrowes’s military service took place in Canada from 1815 to 1824 and, in Canada, he married and founded a family.

After returning to the colony as a civilian in 1826, he was among the first to settle in the young community of Bytown (later Ottawa). He was later posted to Kingston Mills, at the south end of the canal, where he spent the rest of his life. Burrowes continued to serve as Clerk of the Works for the Rideau Canal until his retirement in 1846. He died in 1866.