Robert Raikes Robert Raikes Robert Raikes ("the Younger") (14 September 1736 – 5 April 1811) was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman, noted for his promotion of Sunday schools. Pre-dating state schooling and by 1831 schooling 1,250,000 children, they are seen as the first precursor schools of the English state school system. Raikes was born at Ladybellegate House, Gloucester, in 1736, the eldest child of Mary Drew and Robert Raikes, a newspaper publisher. He was baptised on 24 September 1736 at St Mary de Crypt Church in Gloucester. On 23 December 1767 he married Anne Trigge, with whom he had three sons
Raymond Raikes 20th century authors such as Robert Graves and Jean Anouilh. For many of the plays he directed, he would adapt the archaic English for modern audiences and he also adapted existing English translations of foreign works. Many of the productions had incidental music written by the composer Stephen Dodgson, with whom he had a long and genial collaboration. At the 1965 Prix Italia, Raikes won the RAI Prize for literary or dramatic programmes with "The Anger of Achilles" by Robert Graves and the Prix Italia for stereophonic musical and dramatic programmes with A. R. Gurney's "The Foundling" (music by Humphrey