Career
He served in office during the turbulent Hut Tax War of 1898. Parkes wrote an extensive report on life in Sierra Leone"s protectorate. Thomas Parkes was a West Indian whose father was a disbanded soldier of the West India Regiment.
Thomas had arrived with his father in the Sierra Leone Colony in 1818.
Parkes was educated at the Content Management System Grammar School, Freetown, and worked for some time at the Queen"s Advocate Department. J. C. East. Parkes was promoted from a clerkship in the Commandant"s office in Bonthe to the Aborigine branch of the Secretariat.
Due to his knowledge and understanding of indigenous culture and affairs, Governor Hay reorganized the Aborigine branch of the Secretariat and established Parkes as superintendent of an independent branch (later to be renamed the Department of Native Affairs).
