Thomas Cook Railway Excursion, Loughborough, Leicestershire. UK
N 52° 46.741 W 001° 11.766
30U E 621672 N 5849213
Plaque erected to mark the First Railway Excursion by Thomas Cook
Waymark Code: WMV0TJ
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/04/2017
Views: 1
Mounted outside of Loughborough railway station to mark the first railway excusion by Thomas Cook from Leicester to Loughborough on 5th July 1841.
Thomas Cook would later become on the best known travel agencies.
Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) of Melbourne, Derbyshire, founded the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son (popularly nicknamed Cook's Tours) that became Thomas Cook AG before eventually becoming Thomas Cook Group in 2007.
The first-ever excursions
Cook's idea to offer excursions came to him while "walking from Market Harborough to Leicester to attend a meeting of the Temperance Society".
With the opening of the extended Midland Counties Railway, he arranged to take a group of 540 temperance campaigners from Leicester Campbell Street railway station to a rally in Loughborough, eleven miles away.
On 5 July 1841, Thomas Cook arranged for the railway company to charge one shilling (5p) per person that included railway tickets and food for this train journey. Cook was paid a share of the fares actually charged to the passengers.
This was the first privately chartered excursion train to be advertised to the general public, Cook himself acknowledging that there had been previous, unadvertised, private excursion trains.
Blue Plaque managing agency: Loughborough Junior Chamber
Individual Recognized: Thomas Cook
Physical Address: Loughborough Railway Station Station Boulevard, off Nottingham Road Loughborough, Leicestershire United Kingdom LE11 1HW
Web Address: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:To log an entry for a "Blue Plaque," please try to include a picture of you next to the plaque!