Robert Raikes and seven daughters. Their younger son William Henley Raikes became colonel of the Coldstream Guards, having fought for the British in the Napoleonic Wars. Their oldest son Reverend Robert Napier Raikes had a son General Robert Napier Raikes of the Indian Army. Robert was a pioneer of the Sunday school movement, although he did not start the first Sunday School. Some already existed such as that founded by Hannah Ball in High Wycombe which is the first documented known case. He inherited a publishing business from his father, becoming proprietor of the "Gloucester Journal" in 1757. He then moved the
Robert Raikes business into Robert Raikes' House in 1758. The movement started with a school for boys in the slums. Raikes had been involved with those incarcerated at the county Poor Law (part of the jail at that time) and saw that vice would be better prevented than cured. He saw schooling as the best intervention. The best available time was Sunday as the boys were often working in the factories the other six days. The best available teachers were lay people. The textbook was the Bible, and the originally intended curriculum started with learning to read and then progressed to the