Wilson Carlile, CH (14 January 1847 - 26 September 1942) was a Christian, an English priest and evangelist who founded the Church Army.

In their place came the new thought that I might serve Him and His poor and suffering brethren.After his physical recovery he went to work in his father’s firm.

He first joined the Plymouth Brethren who met at Blackfriars in London and worked among young people in that area.

He was accepted by the London School of Divinity and after 18 months passed his examinations, having been ordained a deacon at St Paul's Cathedral in Lent 1880.

Ordinary working people regarded the churches as "resorts of the well-to-do" (Charles Booth) and believed they would find no welcome within.

Since none of his efforts to bring ordinary people into his congregation worked, he decided to hold open-air meetings to attract passers-by.

As time went on, he drew others to help him and people began gathering in such large numbers that the police told them to "move on."

During this time, he visited the Salvation Army, where he received a "Soldier's Pass" which admitted him to private gatherings.

He showed this on a train to his friend, F. S. Webster, the future rector of All Souls Church, Langham Place.

Webster recalls, "I remember Mr Carlile explained that it was an Army and not a Church, that people could be banded together for purposes of evangelisation and soul-winning."

Bramwell Booth remembered Webster as "more than once walking in our processions, singing the praises of God though plastered with mud from head to foot.

No work was carried out in any parish without the approval of the incumbent, nor in any prison or public institution unless the evangelists were invited by the chaplain.

Carlile met resistance in the early years but he persisted in trying to acquaint clerics and public officials in major cities with Church Army's aims, ideas and methods.

[12] Wilson Carlile is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 26 September (or the Sunday closest to the anniversary of his death).

[16] The current Sheffield head office of Church Army is based in its old training college for evangelists, and is named for Wilson Carlile.