Tom Hartley was born in Belfast and grew up in the Falls Road area. He became a republican activist in the late 1960s and was imprisoned during the 1970s for riotous behaviour.

Hartley joined Sinn Féin in the 1960s and acted as the party's General Secretary and National Chairperson.

Hartley was first elected to Belfast City Council in 1993 for Lower Falls ward, representing Sinn Féin. He served on Council for twenty years and stood down in 2013. He continues to act as the Sinn Féin party archivist.

Hartley is the author of a number of books on Belfast cemeteries, examining burial grounds as a repositories of Belfast's political, social and economic history.