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Thomas Cook & Son, originally simply Thomas Cook, was a company founded by Thomas Cook, a cabinet-maker, in 1841 to carry temperance supporters by railway between the cities of Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham.〔(Thomas Cook History )〕 It was succeeded by Thomas Cook AG after being sold to a German company in 2002, but since 2007 the descendant company is Thomas Cook Group plc. ==History== In 1851, the founder arranged transport to the Great Exhibition of 1851.〔 He organised his first tours to Europe in 1855 and to the United States in 1865.〔 In 1865, the founder's son John Mason Cook began working for the company full-time. In 1871, he became a partner, and the name of the company was changed to Thomas Cook & Son.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher= Thomas Cook Group )〕 Thomas Cook had acquired business premises on Fleet Street, London, in 1865.〔 By this time, Cook had stopped personal tours and became an agent for foreign or domestic travel. The office also contained a shop which sold travel accessories, including guide books, luggage, telescopes and footwear. Thomas saw his venture as both religious and social service; his son provided the commercial expertise that allowed the company to expand. 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 1866. 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. In 1865, the agency organised tours of the United States, picking up passengers from several departure points. John Mason Cook led the excursion which included tours of several Civil War battlefields. A brief but bitter partnership was formed with an American businessman in 1871, called ''Cook, Son and Jenkins''; however, after an acrimonious split the agency reverted to its original name. A round-the-world tour started in 1872, which for 200 guineas, included a steamship across the Atlantic, a stage coach across America, a paddle steamer to Japan, and an overland journey across China and India, lasting 222 days. In 1873, publication of the quarterly (monthly from 1883) ''Cook's Continental Timetable'' began. It continues to be published in 2014, but no longer by Thomas Cook Publishing, which was wound up by its parent company in 2013; the timetable was relaunched in 2014 by an independent company, under the title ''European Rail Timetable'', no longer affiliated with Thomas Cook Group. In 1874, Thomas Cook introduced 'circular notes', a product that later became better known by American Express's brand, 'traveller's cheques'.〔(Competition Commission Report 1995 )〕 In 1884, John Mason Cook attempted to relieve General Gordon from Khartoum.〔 Conflicts of interest between father and son were resolved when the son persuaded his father, Thomas Cook, to retire in 1879. He moved back to Leicestershire and lived quietly until his death. The firm's growth was consolidated by John Mason Cook and his two sons, especially by its involvement with military transport and postal services for Britain and Egypt during the 1880s when Cook began organising tours to the Middle East. By 1888, the company had established offices around the world, including three in Australia and one in Auckland, New Zealand, and in 1890, the company sold over 3.25 million tickets. A husband and wife might, for example, pay £85 for a Thomas Cook tour of Germany, Switzerland, and France over six weeks. While expensive enough that the trip would likely be the only one in their lifetime, the company would arrange for a variety of activities new to the middle class including museum visits, the opera, and mountain climbing. John Mason Cook promoted, and even led, excursions to, for example, the Middle East where he was described as "the second-greatest man in Egypt".〔 However, while arranging for the German Emperor Wilhelm II to visit Palestine in 1898, he contracted dysentery and died the following year. In 1924, the company was renamed to Thomas Cook & Son Ltd., after acquiring a limited liability status.〔 In 1928, the business was sold to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grandes Express Européens, operator of the Orient Express. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Cook & Son」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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