Robert Raikes

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Robert Raikes
Raikes' statue, Victoria Embankments Gardens, London

Robert Raikes (born September 14, 1735 in Gloucester , † April 5, 1811 ibid) was an English newspaper publisher and social reformer . He is considered to be the founder of Sunday School .

biography

Raikes was born as the son of the print shop owner and newspaper publisher Robert Raikes (* 1690; † 1757) and his wife Mary Drew (* 1710; † 1756) in the southwestern English city of Gloucester. He attended first the Crypt School and later the King's School , a 1541 by Henry VIII. Decorated Cathedral School ( Cathedral School ). He then did an apprenticeship as a printer with his father, who had founded the daily newspaper "The Gloucester Journal" in 1722 . After the death of his father in 1757, Robert Raikes inherited the printing company and took over the management of the publishing house. He increased the size of the Gloucester Journal and improved the layout.

His father was already an early champion for freedom of the press and the younger Robert Raikes also spread philanthropic ideas in his newspaper . He spoke out against the inhumane conditions in English prisons and against the booming trade in alcohol. He criticized the inadequate schooling opportunities for the emerging industrial proletariat particularly fiercely . In 1780 Raikes founded a Sunday school in Sooty Alley , where he taught the children of poor chimney sweeps , who often had to contribute to the family's livelihood through child labor , in reading, writing, arithmetic and religion.

Raike's concern was actively promoted by the revival preacher John Wesley (1703–1791). In 1785 he gave Raikes the opportunity to present his pedagogical idea in the Methodist program paper " Arminian Magazine" , which helped the Sunday school movement to break through. Robert Raikes wrote the reading book “Redinmadesy” (Reading made easy) for children's lessons. However, the Bible has always been the focus of the curriculum. In 1802 Raikes withdrew from public life. His Sunday School Movement received great attention with the London Sunday School Union, formed in 1803, and sparked an international diaconal movement.

literature

  • Gregory, Alfred: Robert Raikes: journalist and philanthropist: a history of the origin of Sunday schools . - London: Hodder and Stoughton; Sunday School Union, 1877. - VI, 209 pp
  • Bullock, Charles: What do we owe him? : Robert Raikes: or, The story of a grain of mustard seed . - London: "Home Words" Publishing Office, 1880. - 68 pp.
  • Taylor, John: Robert Raikes and Northamptonshire Sunday: historical and biographical account of the Raikes Family . - London: Elliot Stock; Northampton: Taylor & Sons; Gloucester: CH Thomas, 1880.-IV, 56, 24 pp.
  • Harris, Josiah Henry: Robert Raikes, the man who founded the Sunday School . - Sunday School Union: London, 1900. - 142 pp.
  • Walters, Thomas B .: Robert Raikes, founder of Sunday Schools . - Epworth Press: London, 1930. - 128 pp.
  • Massey, John Wilfrid: Robert Raikes. A pioneer of education . - Reading: Charles Elsbury, 1930. - 47 pp.
  • Kendall, Guy: Robert Raikes: A Critical Study . - London: Nicholson and Watson, 1939. - IX, 182 pp.
  • Booth, Frank: Robert Raikes of Gloucester . - Redhill: National Christian Education Council, 1980. - 188 pages - ISBN 0719702496
  • Christianity, society and education: Robert Raikes, past, present and future / ed. by John Ferguson. - IX, 214 pp. - London: SPCK, 1981. - ISBN 0281037876
  • Daniel Heinz:  Robert Raikes. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 1278-1279.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Robert Raikes (the elder) published proceedings of the House of Commons and was therefore fined £ 40 by the Court of Parliament .
  2. ↑ In England, the Industrial Revolution began in the 1770s , about half a century before France and Germany.
personal data
SURNAME Raikes, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1735
PLACE OF BIRTH Gloucester
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1811
Place of death Gloucester