Sunday school Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian, which caters to children and other young people who would be working on weekdays. Sunday schools were first set up in the 1780s in England to provide education to working children. William King (see memorial in Dursley Tabernacle Church) first started a Sunday school in Dursley, Gloucestershire, and suggested to his friend Robert Raikes, that he start a similar school in Gloucester, which resulted in Raikes generally being quoted as starting the schools. Raikes was editor of the Gloucester Journal. He wrote an article in his
Robert Raikes (1765–1837) Wilkinson of Welton House. They lived in Essex until 1805 after which moving to Welton House, Welton, East Riding of Yorkshire. In Yorkshire William established a bank in Kingston upon Hull. Robert Raikes built a beautiful Georgian mausoleum, "Raikes Mausoleum" for himself and his family in 1818; his father had also constructed a mausoleum in London. He and Anne Williamson had two sons Thomas (b.1790) and Robert (b. 1801), and two daughters Martha (d.1797) and Anne-Louisa. His grandson through his son Thomas established a Tractarian church at Treberfydd. He died in 1837. The mausoleum was built in 1818 for Robert