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 (1765–1837) Raikes, at the north end of Welton Dale, approximately from Welton village and Welton House. The building is circular with a shallow domed roof on top of a frieze decorated with triglyphs, and stands on a circular plinth that originally was railed. The inscription:AEDIFICAVIT ROBERTUS RAIKES ARMIGER AD MDCCCXVIII<br><br> "Robert Raikes, Esquire, built this. 1818 AD" is above the entrance. Eight doric pilasters divide the exterior into bays, alternate bays are blind, the remainder decorated in relief with sarcophagii. The building is faced in light stone, and may have been modelled on an original Roman building. The building is round