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
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