Sunday school Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian, which caters to children and other young people who would be working on weekdays. Sunday schools were first set up in the 1780s in England to provide education to working children. William King (see memorial in Dursley Tabernacle Church) first started a Sunday school in Dursley, Gloucestershire, and suggested to his friend Robert Raikes, that he start a similar school in Gloucester, which resulted in Raikes generally being quoted as starting the schools. Raikes was editor of the Gloucester Journal. He wrote an article in his
Robert Napier Raikes and bade him farewell." " Raikes was promoted to colonel in 1866, lieutenant general in 1881 and general in 1889. He was reputed to have shot a hundred tigers. He returned to England in 1870 and later retired to Watford and Malvern. He died aged 95 on 23 March 1909. Raikes was awarded medals for the Gwalior campaign in 1843, the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852/3 and the Indian Rebellion. Raikes married Harriet Beckett in 1854; they had three infant daughters who died in Agra during the Indian Rebellion. Additionally, they had two daughters and four sons. Their daughters were: