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
Arthur Raikes on 24 September 1896, a First Class member of the Zanzibari Order of Hamondieh on 25 August 1897 and later promoted to Commander of the Zanzibar armies. Raikes was acting prime minister of Zanzibar by 1898 when he was involved in a diplomatic incident with France. The Zanzibar police had caught a slave trader in the act of exporting slaves from Pemba and he had been arrested. However, despite claims he was a native of Pemba he claimed French nationality as a native of the Comoros islands and flew a French flag from his dhow. Raikes returned the flag to