Томас Кук: Саяхат кәсіпкерінің өмірбаяны

English businessman (1808–1892)
the travel entrepreneur

Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was an English businessman. He was best known for founding the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was also one of the initial developers of the "package tour" including travel, accommodations, and the like.

Thomas Cook was born on 22 November 1808, to John and Elizabeth Cook, who lived at 9 Quick Close in the village of Melbourne, Derbyshire. At the age of 10, Cook started working as an assistant to a local market gardener on Lord Melbourne's estate. This is sometimes reported as the world's first railway excursion; however this is incorrect as Grosmont church (Whitby) had already organised an excursion as a fund raiser in 1839. On 4 August 1845 he arranged for a party to travel from Leicester to Liverpool. In 1846, he took 350 people from Leicester on a tour of Scotland. In 1851 he arranged for 150,000 people to travel to the Great Exhibition in London. Four years later, he planned his first excursion abroad, when he took two groups on a 'grand circular tour' of Belgium, Germany and France, ending in Paris for the Exhibition. He was awarded the Serbian Order of Saint Sava.

Thomas Cook acquired business premises on Fleet Street, London in 1865. The office also contained a shop which sold essential travel accessories, including guide books, luggage, telescopes and footwear. In 1872, he formed a partnership with his son, John Mason Andrew Cook, and renamed the travel agency as Thomas Cook & Son. In accordance with his beliefs, he and his wife also ran a small temperance hotel above the office. Their business model was refined by the introduction of the 'hotel coupon' in 1868. Detachable coupons in a counterfoil book were issued to the traveller. These were valid for either a restaurant meal or an overnight hotel stay provided they were on Cook's list.

Usherwood, Stephen. "Travel Agents Extraordinary." History Today (Sep 1972), Vol. 22 Issue 9, pp. 649–655; online; coverage of father and son to 1899.