Thomas Cook was born on November 22, 1808 at 9 Quick Close in the village of Melbourne, Derbyshire, England.
He was brought up his parents John and Elizabeth Cook as a strict Baptist. Cook became a Baptist missionary, and toured the North Midland region as a village evangelist, distributing pamphlets. He worked as a cabinet maker to provide an income.
Cook was a committed teetotaler. He took the temperance pledge on January 1, 1833 and organised anti-liquor meetings and processions.
On July 5, 1841 Cook organised the very first package tour when he chartered a train to take a party of 570 people from Leicester to a temperance rally 11 miles away at Loughborough, for a return fare of 1 shilling. The Baptist evangelist's idea to organise tours had come almost a month earlier when he was walking from his home in Market Harborough to Leicester for a Temperance meeting. Cook later recalled: "The thought suddenly flashed across my mind as to the practicability of employing the great powers of railways and locomotion for the furtherance of this social reform."
Cook subsequently organised other package tours as part of his fight against the demon drink.
Commercial tours began in 1845 with 350 people going on a four day rail trip from Leicester to Liverpool. First-class tickets cost 15 shillings (75p) and second-class, 10 shillings (50p).
The following year Cook offered an 800-mile tour of Scotland for one guinea. He expanded his trips to organising transport from Yorkshire and the Midlands to the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace.
Cook went international in 1855, taking two groups on a 'grand circular tour' of of Belgium, Germany and France, ending in Paris for the Exhibition. The British tourists were greeted by band music and a cannon salute on arrival.
Cook later organised trips North America and Africa. In Egypt, a fleet of steam ships were launched to take tourists along the Nile.
In 1872, he formed a partnership with his son, John Cook, and renamed the travel agency as Thomas Cook & Son.
Thomas Cook died at Thorncroft, Knighton, Leicester, on July 18. 1892, having been afflicted with blindness in his final years.
After the deaths of Thomas and his son John Cook in the 1890s, business continued to boom after the company was inherited by John's sons Frank, Ernest and Bert.
Thomas Cook & Son grew to become one of the largest and most well-known travel agents before becoming state-owned under the British Transport Holding Company in 1948.
Thomas Cook temporarily passed into German hands in the 1990s before merging with UK firm Carlson Leisure Group in 1999, then being sold to a German conglomerate in 2001, It was floated on the stock exchange in 2007 becoming Thomas Group plc.
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| Thomas Cook |
Cook was a committed teetotaler. He took the temperance pledge on January 1, 1833 and organised anti-liquor meetings and processions.
On July 5, 1841 Cook organised the very first package tour when he chartered a train to take a party of 570 people from Leicester to a temperance rally 11 miles away at Loughborough, for a return fare of 1 shilling. The Baptist evangelist's idea to organise tours had come almost a month earlier when he was walking from his home in Market Harborough to Leicester for a Temperance meeting. Cook later recalled: "The thought suddenly flashed across my mind as to the practicability of employing the great powers of railways and locomotion for the furtherance of this social reform."
Cook subsequently organised other package tours as part of his fight against the demon drink.
Commercial tours began in 1845 with 350 people going on a four day rail trip from Leicester to Liverpool. First-class tickets cost 15 shillings (75p) and second-class, 10 shillings (50p).
The following year Cook offered an 800-mile tour of Scotland for one guinea. He expanded his trips to organising transport from Yorkshire and the Midlands to the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace.
Cook went international in 1855, taking two groups on a 'grand circular tour' of of Belgium, Germany and France, ending in Paris for the Exhibition. The British tourists were greeted by band music and a cannon salute on arrival.
Cook later organised trips North America and Africa. In Egypt, a fleet of steam ships were launched to take tourists along the Nile.
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| One of the dahabeahs of Thomas Cook & Son, (Egypt) Ltd. (1893) |
Thomas Cook died at Thorncroft, Knighton, Leicester, on July 18. 1892, having been afflicted with blindness in his final years.
After the deaths of Thomas and his son John Cook in the 1890s, business continued to boom after the company was inherited by John's sons Frank, Ernest and Bert.
Thomas Cook & Son grew to become one of the largest and most well-known travel agents before becoming state-owned under the British Transport Holding Company in 1948.
Thomas Cook temporarily passed into German hands in the 1990s before merging with UK firm Carlson Leisure Group in 1999, then being sold to a German conglomerate in 2001, It was floated on the stock exchange in 2007 becoming Thomas Group plc.
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| Thomas Cook in Leeds By Mtaylor848 |
Thomas Cook Group plc ceased trading on September 23, 2019 after experiencing financial difficulties.
Source Daily Mail
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