Carlile, Wilson (1847-1942)

English founder of the Church Army. In 1880 he was ordained in the Church of England. Two years later, while working in the slums of Westminster, he founded the Westminster Mission, from which the Church Army developed. His evangelistic and social work grew in value, and in 1896 the Church Army mission was carried to prisons and reformatories. In 1906 Carlile became prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, and shortly after travelled to study labour conditions in Europe, publishing on his return The Continental Outcast.

Carlile was born in Brixton, London, England, of Scottish descent. He was educated at the London College of Divinity. A breakdown in health caused him to accept a living at Netteswell, Essex, England, in 1891, but a year later he became rector of St Mary-at-Hill, London, where he remained until his retirement in 1926. After the World War I, during which the Church Army did notable work, the movement spread overseas, taking root particularly in the USA, which Carlile visited in 1926. He wrote The Church and Conversion (1882), Spiritual Difficulties (1885), and Baptism of Fire (1907). As founder and honorary chief secretary of the Church Army his active missionary work did not cease until his death.