Thomas Cook, the Edwardian owner of Sennowe Park, was a bon viveur . This would doubtless have attracted the disapproval not only of his late parents, but of his remarkable grandfather and namesake. Certainly, it suggests a deep-seated contrast in character between them.

Thomas Cook Snr was born into a poor and devout non-conformist household in Melbourne, Derbyshire, in 1808. Just before his 20th birthday, with no more than a Sunday School education, he set aside an apprenticeship as a joiner and became an itinerant preacher. He married a farmer’s daughter, Marianne Mason, and the couple settled in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, where he set up as a wood turner to support his family. Together with his wife, he was moved by the burgeoning temperance movement to sign the Pledge in 18

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