When the name 'Thomas Cook' is mentioned in Leicestershire, most people, myself included think "Travel Agents." We're not mistaken in this assumption, for that's what line of trade Thomas Cook's is in. However there is more to this particular business than just a name, there's a man, and yes you've guessed it, his name is Thomas Cook.
All big commerce establishments have to start somewhere, and usually the somewhere begins with an idea. Cook's idea was a little different because his initial thoughts lay with the betterment of mankind. With the transporting of the physical body, he hoped he could also transport people's minds and transform them socially.
Cook was a former preacher and a very religious man and it was on his way to a temperence meeting in Leicester that his ideas began to take shape. It was the Victorian era, 1842, a time when Thomas (32 years of age,) believed that social problems were alcohol related. He came to the natural assumption that social reforms were possible if alcohol interests were turned towards educational interests.
Perhaps the strangest solution that Cook supplied was to consider the use of public transport for the "Furtherance of this social reform."
When Cook arrived at the temperance meeting he suggested using a train to transport the temeperance supporters of Leicester to a delegate meeting in Loughborough. Met with extensive enthusiasm, the train was arranged with the Midland Railway Company and on July 5th 1841, around 500 passengers were taken 12 miles and back again for one shilling.
What began as a rather bizarre notion began to pay dividends for Cook and his first profit came in 1845 after he organised a trip to Liverpool. Liverpool, a port for steamers was considered an attraction for most people. Thomas now offered people attractive places to visit and the means of transport to get there. It's incredible to conceive that someone actually had an idea to do this, an idea that today has grown into expectation and an expectation, that we take for granted.
Ten years down the line and Cook added parts of Europe to his agenda. Despite trying and failing to persuade companies that commanded the Channel traffic to allow him concessions, he managed to get one route, Harwich to Antwerp. Cook worked around his limitations by offering a circular tour including Brussels, Cologne, the Rhine, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Strasbourg and Paris. The return trip to London would be made via Le Havre or Dieppe and with this route established, Cook escorted his first tourists to Europe.
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