History of education in England that reading comprehension acquired through Bible study could be transferred to secular studies. Raikes used his newspaper to publicize the schools and bore most of the cost in the early years. The movement began in July 1780 in the home of a Mrs. Meredith. Only boys attended, and she heard the lessons of the older boys who coached the younger. Later, girls also attended. Within two years, several schools opened in and around Gloucester. Raikes published an account on 3 November 1783 of Sunday School in his paper, and later word of the work spread through the "Gentleman's Magazine", and
Robert Raikes (1765–1837) Robert Raikes (1765–1837) Robert Raikes Esq. (1765 – 1837), was an English banker, originally from London, that later established a bank in Kingston upon Hull. After 1805 he lived at Welton House in Welton, East Riding of Yorkshire, where in 1818 he had built a family mausoleum in park land to the north. He was the son of William Raikes, who had built a mausoleum in the Churchyard of St Mary, Woodford, London. Robert Raikes was the second son of merchant William Raikes (1737-1800) and banker's daughter Martha Pelly (d. 1797). In 1789 he married Anne Williamson daughter of William