Depiction on the Thomas Cook building in Leicester of Cook's first excursions
Thomas Cook (1808 - 1892)
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July 5th 1841: Thomas Cook’s first package excursion
On this day in 1841, English businessman Thomas Cook arranged the first package excursion, from Leicester to Loughborough. Born in Melbourne, Derbyshire in 1808, Cook first began work aged ten, and eventually became a preacher aged eighteen, and joined the ministry two years later. An active member of the temperance movement, Cook first came up with the idea of excursions when he arranged to take a group of 540 temperance campaigners from Leicester to a rally in Loughborough. He negotiated with the railway company to charge guests one shilling for ticket and food; Cook took a share of the profits. From then on, he organised public outings for campaigners and children, eventually covering accommodation and tours, thus entering the holiday market. In the 1850s Cook began overseas holidays, first to France and then further afield in Europe; in the 1860s his packages extended to Egypt and the United States. Thomas Cook founded the modern package holiday, whereby the guest journeys independently but pays an agency for travel and accommodation. In 1872, Cook and his son established Thomas Cook & Son, though the elder Cook retired in 1879 and his sons oversaw the expansion of the business to the Middle East and Australia in the 1880s. Thomas Cook remains to this day one of Britain’s leading travel agencies.
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