Tom Price is the eighth child (born from her ninth lying-in) of Mr. Price and his wife, Frances Ward. Her pregnancy with him led Mrs. Price to reconcile with her sisters, Lady Bertram and Mrs. Norris, after eleven years; consequently, his uncle Sir Thomas Bertram was made his godfather and namesake, and about a year later, his sister Fanny was sent to Mansfield Park to be raised by their aunt and uncle.
Tom is nine years old when Fanny (then eighteen) returns to Portsmouth. He meets her when he and his brother Charles rush home from school to tell the family the Thrush is gone out of harbor. She kisses the boys and wants to fuss over Tom, whom she had helped nurse and who had adored her as a baby, but he would rather run around and make noise with Sam and Charles.
When William and Sam set sail on the Thrush, Fanny realizes the younger three children (Tom, Charles, and Betsey) are untameable, and she comes to focus her attention on Susan.