Parkes and a delegation – whose members included Henry Loch (Lord Elgin's private secretary) and Thomas William Bowlby (a journalist for "The Times") – travelled ahead of the Anglo-French army to negotiate with the Qing officials in Tungchow on 14 and 17 September. After some negotiations, they managed to secure an agreement that the Anglo-French army should move to a position about away from Tungchow. On 18 September, he left Tungchow to mark out the site of the proposed British encampment, but returned to remonstrate with the Qing officials when he saw a Qing military force assembling at the site. After receiving a hostile response, he and the delegation attempted to head back to the British headquarters, but were arrested by Qing soldiers under the command of the general Sengge Rinchen. Following his capture, Parkes was escorted to Peking along with Loch, Nal Singh (a Sikh sowar), and two French soldiers. In Peking, he and Loch were taken to the Ministry of Justice (or Board of Punishments), where they were incarcerated and tortured.