Thomas Granville Burch was born in Henry County on July 3, 1869, and attended public schools in the county. He moved about 1886 to Martinsville. In 1922 Burch founded the Piedmont Trust Bank of Martinsville and served as its president from then until 1930, when he became chairman of the board. Burch married Mary E. Anson on April 22, 1903. They had no children.
Burch entered politics working in Democratic Party campaigns and then became a member of the Martinsville town council. Elected mayor in 1912, he served until 1914, when he resigned to accept appointment as United States marshal for the Western District of Virginia. He held that office until 1921. Burch also sat on various state boards and advisory committees, including the committee on the reorganization of the state government that Harry Byrd appointed as governor in 1926. By late in the 1920s Burch chaired the Democratic Party in the Fifth Congressional District.