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
Thomas Raikes (dandy) caricatured by Richard Dighton as ""One of the Rake's of London"". Raikes' journal is notable for containing the memoirs of a man who counted among his friends some of the most influential men of his day, including Beau Brummell, the Duke of Wellington, Baron Alvanley, and Talleyrand. A four-volume 'portion' of the journal was published after his death, in 1856-7, and two volumes of "Private Correspondence with the Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington and other Distinguished Contemporaries" were published, edited by his daughter, in 1861. Raikes married Sophia Maria Bayly on 4 May 1802. Bayly was the daughter of