Derby's oldest travel agency organised trips on first trains, then boats and then planes

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Derby’s first and oldest travel agency, Amos Wright, was based in Little Full Street – the tiny lane linking the Market Place with Full Street where the Assembly Rooms now stands – from 1920, though it opted for the more prestigious address, 24A Market Place. Bryan Walkerdine, now retired and living in the Lake District, talked to Pat Parkin about the proud history of his family’s firm.

Bryan Walkerdine, the third generation of his family to run the Amos Wright travel agency, outside the Duckworth Square shop in Derby

Travel agent Amos Wright’s Little Full Street premises in 1920 with its Market Place address. Note all the shipping lines

It was 1863 when the father of modern tourism Thomas Cook organised his first European “package tour” to the Swiss Alps.

More than 500 people responded to his advertisement and joined the 21-day trip, which took place from June 26 to July 16, at the bargain price of £19 17s 6d (£l9.87) inclusive.

However, it was to be many more years before the man in the street could contemplate such exotic foreign travel, which remained the province of the rich.

First travel agent: Amos Wright, advertising trips to Australia with P & O and via the Orient Line at its the agency’s orginal premises in the Corn Exchange in 1880

But at least one Derby man could see the future potential – Amos Wright. In 1880, he opened Derby’s first travel agency in the Corn Exchange in Albert Street, later to become known as Northcliffe House, home of the Derby Evening Telegraph.

Little Full Street, where Amos Wright was based from 1920, can be seen on the left-hand side of the old Assembly Rooms

The manager was William Edgar Walkerdine and, in 1920, he took over the business. His son, Eric, followed him and, in 1956, grandson Bryan Walkerdine became the third generation of the family to run the agency together with mother, Ina, until it was taken over in 1980.

Bryan, 76, who at the time lived in Mickleover and Duffield and has since retired to the Lake District, is proud of his family’s claim to running the oldest travel agency in town.

“Amos Wright looked after the travel arrangements of Derby people for a century from the very beginning of the travel revolution,” said Bryan.

Inside the ‘new’ Amos Wright agency in Duckworth Square. around 1980

“For many years it was the only place to go to book a trip, though, of course, in the very early days not many people, other than the very well-off, could afford to even contemplate a holiday.

“It was only in the later years that jet planes, package holidays, bucket shops and low-cost airlines arrived to give everyone the chance to travel.”

In the early days, before air travel, Amos Wright sent clients on steamship journeys around the world which would sometimes last months. Travellers would pack their belongings into trunks and travel by train to Southampton to board the ships run by various lines, including Cunard, the Orient Line, Shaw Savill, Royal Mail and Union Castle. Some would be travelling on business, others for their health and many to sightsee.

Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada were popular destinations. In the post-war years, when £10 one-way passages were offered to encourage British people to emigrate down-under, Amos Wright booked countless young people, as well as families, on the six- week long sea journey which was the beginning of a new life for them.

Travel by train and bus would also be arranged for people on shorter journeys. One of the advertisements placed by Amos Wright at the beginning of the 1900s was for a week in Paris with Thomas Cook, fully inclusive from and to Derby for the princely sum of £6.

Inevitably, the Second World War brought a dramatic reduction in travel and the business almost closed. To keep it going, other jobs had to be undertaken to help pay the bills. Grandad Walkerdine looked after properties and collected rents while his wife knitted and sold baby clothes.

After 1946, as things improved, the business began to pick up once again. As well as booking private trips, the company also made travel arrangements for several large companies in Derby.

In the 1920s, after William Walkerdine took over, the business moved into Little Full Street, though it always gave its address as 24a The Market Place.

“I think it was felt to be a much more prestigious address as well as being easier for potential customers to find. The Market Place was only a couple of steps away but, actually, the office was in Little Full Street and we were there for 48 years,” said Bryan.

In 1968, Amos Wright Shipping and Travel Agency, as it was then known, outgrew the tiny building bedecked with posters of shipping companies and a move was made to prestigious new premises in Duckworth Square.

“We were delighted with so much more space and the staff were very happy there,” said Bryan.

This was a growth period for travel as people became better off and were spending more time and money on leisure. Where previously, custom had come mainly from the well-to-do, now ordinary working people were beginning to benefit from the post-war prosperity and were able to afford to take, not just dream about, holidays in faraway exotic places.

Air travel had replaced travelling by ship, bucket shops were opening and package holidays were replacing the independent and personal service that companies like Amos Wright offered. Competition became keen as more and more travel agents opened premises in Derby.

Said Bryan: “Personal service was always the backbone of our business. We were known and respected for that. In the early days, that mattered to people but price eventually became more important.

“It’s a pity because we always tried to make a journey special and enjoyable for each client and we charged the same brochure price as everyone else.”

He still has a copy of the compliments slip the company used to put inside every brochure which stated: “Amos Wright presents his compliments and respectfully requests that should you decide to take any of the tours shown, you will allow him to make all the necessary arrangements on your behalf...

“There are no booking fees and by favouring him with your order you pay no more than the advertised price in the brochure and will receive free service and advice.”

In 1980, Amos Wright was taken over by Hunting Lambert which eventually became part of the A T Mays group and a short time later, Bryan took early retirement. With his wife, Pat, he moved to Cumbria, though he keeps in close touch with Derby and makes regular journeys here.

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