William Beard (1772–1868) by Samuel Griffiths Tovey, c. 1828–9 © Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
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Beard, William (1772–1868), tourist guide and collector of bones, was born on 24 April 1772 at Woolvershill, Banwell, Somerset, the eldest of the eight children of John Beard (1738–1801), a farmer, and his second wife, Ann Poole (1760–1833). He was educated by John Tuckey...
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Thomas Cook (1808–1892) by unknown photographer Getty Images
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Piers Brendon
Cook, Thomas (1808–1892), travel agent, was born on 22 November 1808 at 9 Quick Close, Melbourne, Derbyshire. He was the only child of John Cook (1785–1812), labourer, and his wife, Elizabeth (d. 1854), daughter of Thomas Perkins, a New Connexion Baptist pastor. The family was poor and their circumstances did not improve when ...
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Anne Pimlott Baker
Evans, Evan (1882–1965), coach tour operator and local politician, was born on 8 November 1882 in Glanyrafon, Betws Leucu, Cardiganshire, the eldest of the six surviving children of David Evans, a tenant farmer, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Davies. After leaving Llangeitho school...
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Sir Richard Hotham (1722–1799) by William Dudman, 1796 Town Hall, Bognor Regis; photograph © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Hotham, Sir Richard (1722–1799), merchant and founder of the resort of Bognor, was born in York on 5 October 1722, the youngest of five children (of whom only he and his sister survived infancy) of Joseph Hotham, gentleman, and his wife, Sarah Bradley...
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Sir Henry Simpson Lunn (1859–1939) by Sir Benjamin Stone, 1894 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Lunn, Sir Henry Simpson (1859–1939), worker for ecclesiastical reunion and travel agent, was born on 30 July 1859 at Bridge Street, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, the eldest son of Henry Lunn, greengrocer and lay preacher, and Susanna, daughter of Simpson Green, of Horncastle. His parents were both Wesleyan Methodists. He was educated at ...
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Jason Thompson
Osman, Efendi [formerly William Thomson] (b. before 1800, d. 1835), guide to travellers in Egypt, was originally William Thomson, a native of Scotland. Details of his life, gleaned from passing remarks by the many travellers who knew him in Cairo, are scant and occasionally contradictory. This sometimes leads to confusion, as with ...
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Anne Pimlott Baker
Swan, (Richard) Kenneth [Ken] (1919–2005), tour operator, was born on 3 April 1919 at 175 High Street, Guildford, Surrey, the only child of William Frederic Swan, founder of Swan's Travel Bureau, and his wife, Gladys, née Lumley. He was educated at the City of London School...
