Past Perfect: On a Cook’s Tour
Presented by a “willing and devoted servant of the travelling public.”
In the late 19th century, the very name of Thomas Cook (1808–1892) conjured up images of romantic excursions to exotic ports of call in the minds of the British. But the man himself started life as a Baptist-bred cabinetmaker who was more concerned with his local temperance society than with the world outside his Derbyshire hometown. That changed in 1841, when Cook had a vision on the road to a temperance rally: Why not use the railways, that astonishing new form of transportation, to gather the faithful together? Within a few weeks, he arranged to have a special train carry 500 temperance delegates to a convention for a shilling a head. Realizing that there was money to be made in arranging excursions of all kinds, Cook eventually shepherded 150,000 people to the Great Exhibition held in London’s Crystal Palace in 1851. A decade later he found himself escorting groups of sightseers on tours through the Italian and Swiss countryside. A marketing genius, Cook negotiated with hotel proprietors for clean rooms and decent meals at reasonable prices. He created a forerunner of modern travelers’ checks, produced guidebooks, published special promotional newspapers and exploited the Victorians’ new fascination with Egyptology. When the Suez Canal opened to great fanfare in November 1869, Thomas Cook was there, escorting 30 travelers. Before long, his firm had gained control of the Nile steamship franchise and enjoyed a virtual monopoly on Egyptian tourism. In 1872, he led the first of what was to become an annual around-the-world tour—a seven-month-long excursion via rail and steam. After this enterprising man retired in 1878, his company remained in family hands for the next 50 years. Even today it continues to flourish as Thomas Cook AG, providing service to globetrotters everywhere.—Ed.
