of shipping which saw growth thanks to Lord Cornwallis and his actions against Tipu. Parry was an admirer of the Whig Charles James Fox. In 1794 Parry married Mary Pearce, widow of a civil servant and merchant Thomas Pearce and daughter of James West. They had a daughter Eliza and a son John but both died young. Parry sought to start a newspaper in 1794 as there was just one, the Madras Courier founded in 1785. This was however not granted permission by the Government. In 1795 he began to trade under the name of Thomas Parry & Co. Around 1797 it went by the name of Parry, Garrow and Co. with partner George Garrow. In 1796 he became a secretary of the Carnatic Insurance Company. He purchased land for a garden house from Colonel Braithwaite, and built Parry's Castle, now called Leith Castle, in 1796. Parry joined the service of the Nawab Omdat-ul-Omrah at the end of 1796 receiving a salary of 2100 pounds a year. In 1809 he purchased Pycroft's Garden in Nungambakkam. His connection to the Nawab led to his being dismissed by the Court of Directors at Fort St. George who wrote a letter on 20th May 1800 that he would not be protected anymore and told to return to Britain at the earliest. He however attempted appeals and in 1801 his partner Garrow left having taken up a covenanted post. John King Lane joined as a new partner and Parry and Lane was established in 1801. In 1803 they set up their office in George Town.In 1805 the banishment order was taken back and he established a tannery. When his partner Lane joined the Government Bank, the partnership was again dissolved and he then joined John Neill and A. T. Gibbons of Ceylon and formed Parry Neill & Co. Their main business was with the navy in Ceylon. He suffered a major loss when a ship, Marquis Wellesley, that he owned shares in caught fire off Calicut. The Captain of the ship John Grant received a large sum in insurance and apparently made good profits without the knowledge of Parry. He then moved out of shipping and began to take an interest in indigo cultivation in Cuddalore and Chidambaram. He then began to take an interest in sugarcane and tea. He also began to trade to Southeast Asia with cargo despatched via the General Wellesley