Parbury had been sent by his father to work with William Thacker's bookselling firm in Calcutta. Thacker (1791–1872) had received a licence from the East India Company, allowing him to reside at Fort William “to dispose of Messrs. Black Parbury and Co.’s consignment”, presumably shipped from England, thus marking the beginning of Thacker's company in Calcutta,The History of Thacker Spink and Co. in Bengal, Past & Present: Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society, vol. XLI, January–June, 1931 and was later made a partner of W. Thacker and Co., St. Andrew's Library, Calcutta. There were also family connections between Thacker and Parbury: William Thacker's third marriage, at St Pancras church on 29 December 1841, was to Helen Parbury, George's youngest sister.
