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
Cyril Raikes finally Sidmouth both in Devon until his death 16 January 1963. He had two daughters Iris Mary Raikes (born 1 March 1909, died 9 June 1995, living on Exmoor) and Daphne Veronica Raikes, a physiotherapist (born 29 January 1911, and lucidly living to 101 in Beccles, Suffolk, she died 16 October 2012), both without issue. Cyril Raikes Cyril Probyn Napier Raikes was awarded the Military Cross in the World War I Mesopotamian Campaign flying in the British army's Royal Engineers monitoring the oil pipelines there. He had previously fought in the Boer War. Cyril Raikes was born 12 November 1875