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
Geoffrey Raikes Lieutenant of Brecknockshire from 1948 to 1959. Geoffrey Raikes Major-General Sir Geoffrey Taunton Raikes CB DSO (7 April 1884 – 1975) was a British Army General who achieved high office in the 1930s. Educated at Radley College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Raikes was commissioned into the South Wales Borderers in 1903. He was seconded to the Egyptian Army from 1913 to 1915. He served in World War I and in April 1918 found himself as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers at Armentières where the battalion suffered heavy losses. After the War he became