Monument to Robert Reicks
Robert Raikes ( eng. Robert Raikes ; 1736 , Gloucestershire - 1811 , Gloucestershire ) - British publisher, newspaper owner and philanthropist, who in 1780 opened the first Sunday school in Gloucester , where they taught literacy and catechism , mainly children from poor families who worked weekdays in factories so that they could read the Bible . This marked the beginning of a national movement for Sunday schools, which by 1831 attended more than 1.25 million children.