He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy.

Following the success of this excursion, Cook, by now settled with his family in Leicester, began to organise tours further afield in the British Isles and, eventually, to the United States, Egypt and the Holy Land.

Cook is credited with having, through his all-inclusive tours, made travel and tourism accessible to a wider public.

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.

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-tujarner.

[1] Cook described how he got the idea for his first railway excursion when he was walking the 15 miles from his home to Leicester in June 1841 to attend a temperance meeting:[3] "A thought flashed through my brain – what a glorious thing it would be if the newly developed powers of railways and locomotion could be made subservient to the promotion of temperance".

[5]: 25 Having organised tours in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Isle of Man over the previous decade, Cook planned his first excursion abroad in 1855, a trip to Calais for tourists who went on to visit the Pris Exhibition.

The office also contained a shop which sold essential travel accessories, including guide books, luggage, and footwear.

"Circular notes", a form of traveller's cheque, were introduced in 1874 and enabled tourists to obtain local currency.

[6] While Cook travelled the world, his son stayed at home to run the company, moving to a new London headquarters at Ludgate Circus.