Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook was born on 22 November 1808 to Elizabeth and John Cook, who lived in a small cottage in Quick Close in the village of Melbourne, Derbyshire. His father was a labourer who died when Cook was four years old; his mother was the daughter of a New Connexion Baptist preacher. At the age of 10, Cook left school and started working as a gardener's boy on Lord Melbourne's estate, while continuing his education at Sunday School and later becoming a Sunday School teacher. In 1828, he left an apprenticeship as a cabinet-maker to become an itinerant Baptist preacher, distributing tracts and setting up Sunday Schools in villages in the South Midlands for an annual salary of £36. In 1829, he met Marianne Mason, a farmer's daughter and Sunday School teacher from Barrowden in Rutland. The couple married on 3 March 1833 at St Peter's Church, Barrowden and set up home in Market Harborough in Leicestershire, with Cook working as a wood turner. They had one surviving son, John Mason Cook, and daughter, Annie Elizabeth.

Following his retirement, Cook moved back to Leicester to a house, Thorncroft, he had had built on London Road. His later years were marred by the death of his daughter in 1880 and of his wife in 1884 and by increasing loss of sight. He still managed to travel and went to the Holy Land in 1888. At home, he continued his work for the Baptist Church, the temperance movement, and other charities. He died following a stroke on 18 July 1892. He was buried in Welford cemetery in Leicester. His wealth at death was £2731 7s. 2d His son died in 1899, leaving an estate of £622,534 3s. 4d. The business of Thomas Cook & Son was then run by Cook's three grandsons.