Statue of Robert Raikes, London reads: In 1929 replicas of the statue were cast for erection the following year in Gloucester and Toronto, for the 150th anniversary the following year of opening of the first Sunday school. 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
Robert Raikes the Elder Robert Raikes the Elder Robert Raikes the Elder (baptised 22 April 1690 – 7 September 1757) was a British printer and newspaper proprietor. He is noted as a pioneer of the press who was instrumental in bringing printing out of London and to the provinces. Raikes was the son of Timothy Raikes, vicar of Hessle, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and his wife Sarah. On 1 October 1705, at the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to the London printer John Barber. He was made a freeman of the Stationers' Company on 1 December 1712. In 1718 he was