[1] Born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray in 1890, Tom Carlton was a tall left-arm pace bowler and useful tail-end batsman who bowled "an impeccable length" and moved the ball away from right-hand batsmen.

[2] He moved to New Zealand in late 1909 and settled in Christchurch, where he played alongside his uncle, William Carlton, who had been appointed coach of the Canterbury Cricket Association.

When he returned to New Zealand he played for Canterbury against the touring Australian team, taking 6 for 142 in the innings in which Victor Trumper and Arthur Sims set the world record eighth-wicket partnership of 433 in 181 minutes.

[6] In the deciding match of the 1914–15 Plunket Shield Carlton top-scored for Canterbury in the second innings with 50 made at number five, and took 5 for 65 and 4 for 38 in the team's victory over Wellington.

In his second match he took 5 for 64 off 31 eight-ball overs against Marylebone Cricket Club, including the wickets of Jack Hobbs, Patsy Hendren, Maurice Leyland and Les Ames.