This article deals with the study of thermal stress in a hemispherical shell made of transversely isotropic material under the effect of thermal, pressure and mechanical load. Seth's transition theory and generalized strain measure are used for finding the governing equation. Mathematical modelling is based on stress–strain relation and equilibrium equation. Analytical solutions are presented for the hemispherical shell made of transversely isotropic material and isotropic material. The effects of different pertinent parameters (i.e., temperature, pressure and load) are considered for the spherical shell made of transversely isotropic material. The behaviour of stress distribution, mechanical load, pressure rise, and temperature distribution are investigated. From the obtained results, it is noticed that carbon fiber material hemispherical shell requires higher pressure at the internal surface in comparison to magnesium/polypropylene material. With the introduction of mechanical load, the value of pressure decreases at the internal surface, but reverse results are obtained in the case of thermal condition for the hemispherical shell made of carbon fiber/magnesium/polypropylene material. By applying thermal condition, the hemispherical shell made of carbon fiber material requires maximum hoop stress at the external surface as compared to the magnesium/polypropylene material. The transversely isotropic material hemispherical shell more convenient than that of isotropic material hemispherical shell. Results have been discussed numerically and graphically.