Statue of Robert Raikes, London Statue of Robert Raikes, London A statue of Robert Raikes, often regarded as being the founder of Sunday schools, executed by the sculptor Thomas Brock, stands in Victoria Embankment Gardens, London, United Kingdom. It was unveiled by the Earl of Shaftesbury on 3 July 1880 and marked the centenary of the opening of the first Sunday school. The critic Edmund Gosse considered the statue to be "as good as anything of the kind we possess in England". In 1958 it was designated a Grade II-listed building. The front of the plinth reads: . An inscription below the figure's right foot
Treberfydd year. The house is Grade I listed, being an "outstanding early Tudor Revival house ...with excellent detail inside and out, the interior retaining almost all its original fittings." It is also the earliest surviving major work by John Loughborough Pearson. The house was built for Robert Raikes (1818–1901), grandson of banker Robert Raikes (1765–1837). Robert Raikes was a prominent member of the Oxford-based Christian Tractarian movement, and moved his family into the area in order to promote his beliefs and assist in the development of the area. The house was designed by John Loughborough Pearson, a young architect who was