Theodore Thomson Flynn was born in Coraki, New South Wales, Australia, the son of Jessie B.

While at the University, he was a distinguished scholar, winning the John Coutts Scholarships, the Macleay Fellowship offered by the Linnean Society of NSW and the Medal for Biology in 1906.

[3] Flynn and his family then moved to Northern Ireland where he served as the Chair of Zoology at Queen's University of Belfast from 1931 to 1948; he also became director of the marine station at Portaferry.

[5] Flynn named one new species of sub-tropical kelpfish he discovered – Gibbonsia erroli – after his son.

[6] Flynn died at Hillbrow Nursing Home in Liss, Hampshire, England, on 23 October, 1968.