Memorial to John Whitaker he opened a free Sunday School in Pickford Street, which accommodated about 40 children. In doing this he was inspired by Robert Raikes who had initiated the Sunday School movement, and by David Simpson, a local Anglican priest who had earlier provided schools for poor children in the town. Unlike most Sunday Schools, Whitaker's school was non-denominational. In 1814 he followed this by opening a much larger purpose-built Sunday School in Roe Street. The school was financed by public subscription and by the children paying a small weekly fee. Whitaker died in 1820, but the school continued to flourish, and
Arthur Raikes Arthur Raikes Arthur Edward Harington Raikes (5 February 1867 – 3 March 1915) was a British army officer who served as acting prime minister, vizier and first minister to numerous Sultans of Zanzibar. Serving in the Wiltshire Regiment Raikes took up a position as brigadier-general in Zanzibar's army and fought on the pro-British side in the Anglo-Zanzibar War. He also helped to negotiate the demarcation of the boundary between Zanzibari and British territory on the African mainland. Raikes was awarded honours by several nations in the course of his work. Raikes was born on 5 February 1867 to Reverend Charles