Thomas Raikes Thomas Raikes Thomas Raikes ("the Elder") (28 March 1741 – 29 December 1813) was a British merchant particularly trading from London with Russia, a banker and newspaper proprietor. Notably, he was Governor of the Bank of England during the 1797 currency crisis, when the Bank was prohibited by the British Government from paying out in gold. Raikes was born at Gloucester in 1741, third son of Robert Raikes the Elder and Mary Drew. His brothers included Robert Raikes, the founder and promoter of Sunday schools, and William Raikes, a director of the South Sea Company. Raikes was Governor of the
Treberfydd year. The house is Grade I listed, being an "outstanding early Tudor Revival house ...with excellent detail inside and out, the interior retaining almost all its original fittings." It is also the earliest surviving major work by John Loughborough Pearson. The house was built for Robert Raikes (1818–1901), grandson of banker Robert Raikes (1765–1837). Robert Raikes was a prominent member of the Oxford-based Christian Tractarian movement, and moved his family into the area in order to promote his beliefs and assist in the development of the area. The house was designed by John Loughborough Pearson, a young architect who was