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Born to Robert and Mary Raikes in 1736, Robert Raikes was
baptised at St. Mary de Crypt Gliucester ( still there
in Southgate St. ) and educated at the Crypt School ( the authors old School )
and later on at Kings School which can still be found by the Cathedral. He was
then apprenticed to his father, a printer who founded the " Gloucester Journal
". When his father died in 1757 he took over as editor of the Journal and made
his own mark by enlarging the size of the paper and improving the layout.
Like many of his contemporaries, he was passionately concerned with the need for
prison reform, and used the Journal to tell the public of the terrible
conditions inside the prison that he saw as a prison visitor. After the riots of
1760 many protestors were in prison for demonstrating against the high price of
corn, even though they were starving. He was described by the diarist Fanny
Burney as " a good liberal master who paid good wages ".
His main claim to fame was the founding of the first Sunday School . One day,
while looking for a gardener, he found himself in St. Catherine's St. He noticed
a group of ragged children playing in the street. The gardeners wife told him
that it was even worse on Sunday when the street was full of children cursing
and swearing and spending their time in noise and riot.Most of these children
were employed in the pin making industry and would have worked six days a week
for very long hours .
Robert Raikes then realised that the prisons were full of people whose lives had
been shaped by their deprived childhood.Soon after this, he and the reverend
Thomas Stock opened the worlds first Sunday School in St. Catherine's St.
Unfortunately, despite local opposition, the council have demolished this
building. At the time, any children between the ages of five and fourteen were
admitted, no matter what the state of their clothes. Lessons were given by
suitable ladies ( paid 1 shilling and sixpence ) and included reading and
writing and a visit to Church.
The success of these Sunday Schools was reported in the Journal and they soon
spread throughout the country . The famous evangelist John Wesley remarked " I
find these Scools springing up wherever I go "
Robert Raikes retire in 1802 and died in 1811 of a heart attack. The local
children that attended his Sunday School attended his burial in St. Mary de Lode
church and were each given 1 shilling and a large piece of Mr. Raikes plum cake.
A statue of Robert Raikes can be seen in Gloucester Park
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