Henry Raikes

Who was Henry Raikes?

Vicar Henry Raikes was Chancellor of the diocese of Chester. He was the son of Thomas Raikes, a London banker and merchant, and Charlotte Finch, daughter of Henry Finch, Earl of Winchelsea.

One of his three brothers was Thomas Raikes, a London banker and merchant who later became a famous diarist and a dandy traveller on the Continent. One of his five sisters, Georgina Raikes, married Lord William FitzRoy, Admiral on 9 August 1816.

Henry Raikes was the father of Henry Cecil Raikes, a British Conservative politician and one of the earliest British politicians to have had their voice recorded. George Edward Gouraud recorded him on behalf of Thomas Edison on the evening of 5 October 1888.