Robert Raikes 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. He was baptised on 24 September 1736 at St Mary de Crypt Church in Gloucester. On 23 December 1767 he married Anne Trigge, with whom he had three sons
Raymond Raikes Searle). Raikes' last production for the BBC was his own translation of Euripides' "Iphigeneia in Aulis" in 1975. Following his retirement, he studied Egyptian hieroglyphics and Russian as hobbies. He had a large personal library and for many years also served as chairman on the library committee of the Garrick Club. Raikes died in his sleep at his home in Bromley, Kent at the age of 88. He was survived by his wife, Wendy ("née" Howard of the Howard family) whom he had married in 1939. The couple had one daughter. Raikes' papers, including scripts, production papers and correspondence, were