He became Vice-Principal and Chaplain of St Edmund Hall, Oxford until 1903 when he became assistant curate at St. Ann's Church, Nottingham.
He was appointed Archdeacon of Nottingham in 1913 and nominated Bishop of Newcastle on 16 October 1915, being consecrated on 30 November.
Asquith, offered him the post after it had been rejected by Albert David, headmaster of Rugby School and a future Bishop of Liverpool.
[1] Wild was strongly in favour of continuing the First World War against Germany despite the heavy casualties and talk of a peace treaty.
[2] Wild was also keen to stress that post-War memorials should be 'for rich and poor alike', for everyone had fought for the same cause and had died as comrades together.