Robert Raikes of the population. As these schools preceded the first state funding of schools for the general public, they are seen as the forerunners of the current English school system. Robert Raikes Robert Raikes ("the Younger") (14 September 1736 – 5 April 1811) was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman, noted for his promotion of Sunday schools. Pre-dating state schooling and by 1831 schooling 1,250,000 children, they are seen as the first precursor schools of the English state school system. Raikes was born at Ladybellegate House, Gloucester, in 1736, the eldest child of Mary Drew and Robert Raikes, a newspaper publisher.
Robert Raikes (Royal Navy officer) Marines Commandos on their raid using the klepper canoe against German shipping in the Gironde estuary in 1942. The story was told in the classic 1955 film "The Cockleshell Heroes" starring Trevor Howard. Robert Raikes (Royal Navy officer) Admiral Sir Robert Henry Taunton Raikes KCB CVO DSO (1885–1953) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station. Raikes joined the Royal Navy in 1900. He served in World War I, earning the DSO in 1916, and went on to be Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth before becoming Director of the Royal Navy Staff