Wilson Carlile

Wilson Carlile, CH (1847–1942) was an English evangelist who founded the Church Army, and was Prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral. Known as "The Chief," Wilson Carlile has inspired generations of evangelists.

He was born in 1847, the eldest of a middle-class family of twelve (one of whom was Sir Hildred Carlile) in Brixton, England. As a child, music was a great delight to him. Before he was three, his mother found him on tiptoe trying to play the family piano. He figured out some pleasing chords and persuaded his mother to help him learn more. From then on much of his time was spent on music. He was also good at languages. When he was sent to school in France at age fourteen, he quickly learned to speak French. In later life, he was also proficient at German and Italian.

Upon his return from France he joined his grandfather's business firm and by age eighteen, owing to his grandfather's failing health, Carlile came to be mostly in control. Thus, at the beginning of the 1870s he found himself a successful young businessman. He was ambitious, having determined he would earn his first 20,000 pounds before he turned twenty-five. By the time of that birthday (1872), he had made well over that amount.

In 1873, a great depression began and continued with a few breaks until 1896. It brought poverty and distress to working people, but also had immediate and disastrous effects upon the business community. Carlile was among those severely affected by the depression. The prosperity which he had carefully built up suddenly failed. Mental strain led to a physical breakdown and for many weeks he was confined to his bed. All this time he had spent in acquiring material wealth and position, and all for nothing. He began to question the purpose of life. No answer given to him brought him any satisfaction until he happened to read Mackay's Grace and Truth. Later he would say:

I have seen the crucified and risen Lord as truly as if He had made Himself visible to my bodily sight. That is for me the conclusive evidence of His existence. He touched my heart, and old desires and hopes left it. In their place came the new thought that I might serve Him and His poor and suffering brethren.

Although upon his physical recovery his father took him into his own firm, Carlile’s real interest now lay in religious work. He first joined the Plymouth Brethren who met at Blackfriars in London and worked among young hooligans in that area. Soon he was confirmed in the Church of England, his father having joined some time before. About this time, in 1875, Dwight L. Moody held his great rallies in Islington. Wilson offered his help. Ira Sankey, the musical director, recognised the young man's ability and placed him at the harmonium where he accompanied the singing of the huge crowds who came to hear Moody. Following this mission he went with Moody to Camberwell where he chose and trained the choir for the South London mission. Thus he gained a solid understanding of the techniques of evangelism and the part that music can play. This knowledge would stand him in good stead when he became leader of the Church Army.

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