Cook, Thomas

born Nov. 22, 1808, Melbourne, Derbyshire, Eng.

died July 18, 1892, Leicester, Leicestershire

British innovator of the conducted tour.

A Baptist missionary, in 1841 he arranged for a special train to be run to a temperance meeting; this was probably the first publicly advertised excursion train in England. He began to arrange excursions on a regular basis, and in 1856 he led his first grand tour of Europe. In the early 1860s he became an agent for the sale of travel tickets; with his son, John Mason Cook (1834–99), he founded the Thomas Cook & Son travel agency. In the 1880s the firm also organized military transport and postal services.

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▪ British businessman

born November 22, 1808, Melbourne, Derbyshire, England

died July 18, 1892, Leicester, Leicestershire

      English innovator of the conducted tour and founder of Thomas Cook and Son, a worldwide travel agency. Cook can be said to have invented modern tourism.

      Cook left school at the age of 10 and worked at various jobs until 1828, when he became a Baptist missionary. In 1841 he persuaded the Midland Counties Railway Company to run a special train between Leicester and Loughborough for a temperance meeting on July 5. It was believed to have been the first publicly advertised excursion train in England. Three years later the railway agreed to make the arrangement permanent if Cook would provide passengers for the excursion trains. During the Paris Exposition of 1855, Cook conducted excursions from Leicester to Calais, France. The next year he led his first Grand Tour of Europe.

      In the early 1860s he ceased to conduct personal tours and became an agent for the sale of domestic and overseas travel tickets. His firm took on military transport and postal services for England and Egypt during the 1880s. On his death the business passed to his only son, John Mason Cook (1834–99), who had been his father's partner since 1864. The company passed to Cook's grandsons in 1899 and remained in the family until 1928. In 1972 the company was renamed Thomas Cook, and in 2001 it was wholly owned by Thomas Cook AG, one of the largest travel groups in the world.

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