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
Thomas Raikes (dandy) Jamaican proprietor Nathaniel Bayly. She died on 8 March 1822. With Sophia Maria, Raikes had one son and three daughters. His daughter Harriet became a novelist and editor of her father's correspondence with Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington. Thomas Raikes (dandy) Thomas Raikes ("the Younger") (3 October 1777 – 3 July 1848) was a British merchant banker, dandy and diarist. Raikes was born in 1777, the eldest son of Thomas Raikes the Elder and his wife, Charlotte. He was educated at Eton, where his friends included George (later "Beau") Brummell, whose friendship would extend into Raikes' adult life. In