The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Raikes, Robert

RAIKES, rāks, Robert, English founder of Sunday schools: b. Gloucester, England, 14 Sept. 1735; d. there, 5 April 1811. He succeeded to his father's business as editor and publisher of the Gloucester Journal in 1757 and used its influence in exposing certain prison abuses in his native town. In 1781 he founded several Sunday schools which he engaged needy women to teach at a shilling a day, and succeeded in inducing the attendance of the children of the city. In 1803, largely through his efforts, the Sunday School Union was founded. Consult Lifes by Gregory (1877), and Eastman (1880); Harris, ‘Robert Raikes: The Man and his Work’ (1899). See Sunday Schools.