Thomas Gilbert Henry Jones was born on 14 July 1895 in Owens Gap, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, the son of Thomas Jones a schoolteacher and his wife Margaret Bell. He attended Newcastle High School where he won prizes in his Junior and Senior years. He entered the University of Sydney in 1912 where he studied his B.Sc graduating with first class honours in mathematics and chemistry in 1915 and winning the Levy Scholarship for chemistry and physics, the Slade Prize for practical chemistry, the Caird Scholarship for chemistry II and the University medals for mathematics and chemistry. In 1915, Jones was awarded a government research scholarship and was appointed an assistant lecturer and demonstrator at the University of Queensland.