Wiles, Carlos Edward, B.A.(1904-1995)
Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
CARLOS EDWARD WILES: born at Wisbech in Cambridgeshire on 5th February 1904. He was the eldest child of the Revd George Edward Wiles, a Primitive Methodist minister and missionary who served for a time at San Carlos on the island of Fernando Po — hence his Christian name. He was educated at Elmfield College, York — a Primitive Methodist boarding school where he was head boy and captain of the cricket and soccer teams. While in York he served as a local preacher before going up to Hartley Victoria College and Manchester University.
After graduating he was accepted for missionary work in the Eastern Nigeria District where in July 1926 he began work in teacher training at Uzuakoli Institute. It was here he again met Lilian Hanney whom he had first known met while a student in Manchester and who had joined her missionary parents at Oron Mission. They married in 1929 and he remained in Uzuakoli until appointed Principal of Oron Training Institute in 1932, Lilian having returned to England with their children.
In 1938 the family was briefly reunited when he went to take up a circuit appointment in Ramsgate in Kent, but in 1940 Lilian and the two young children were evacuated to Lancashire and Carlos returned to Eastern Nigeria due to a depletion of missionary staff. He undertook the task of managing schools as well as serving in the local circuit. In 1945 he returned to serve as Principal of Oron which had become the Methodist Boys High School. After furlough in 1946 he returned to Oron with his wife (flying out from a Heathrow that consisted of huts and tents by Dakota aircraft that took three days with overnight stops en route) where they continued to serve until 1956.
From 1956 to 1962 he served in the Midsomer Norton circuit and from 1956 to 1967 was superintendent of the Shaftesbury and Gillingham circuit. He served as an active supernumerary at Castle Cary in the Somerset Mission circuit from 1967 until retiring to Glastonbury in 1971 where he continued to live after Lilian’s death in 1992. As his short term memory failed he constantly relived his years of service in Africa, recalling memories of his students whom he remembered with joy and affection.
He died on Good Friday, 14th April 1995 in the ninety-second year of his age and the sixty-ninth year of his ministry.
Family
Carlos was born on 14 February 1904 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, to parents George Edward Wiles, a PM minister, and Louisa Davis.
He married Lillian Maude Pearson Hanney (1908-1992) on 31 July 1929 in Nigeria.
Carlos died on 14 April 1995 at Glastonbury, Somerset.
Circuits
- Hartley & Victoria Park
- 1926 E Nigeria District
- 1938 Ramsgate
- 1940 E Nigeria District
- 1956 Midsomer Norton
- 1962 Shaftsbury &c
- 1967 Somerset Mission (S)
References
Methodist Minutes 1995/???
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
Comments about this page
Rev. Carlos Edward Wiles was posted to my alma mater, Methodist Boys’ High School (MBHS) Oron from Uzuakoli Institute, where he started his Missionary work in Eastern Nigeria in July 1926. He was Principal of MBHS Oron from 1932 to 1938. Went back to UK on May 1938 and stayed till 1941, then returned to Nigeria again as Principal of the school from 1945-1955. It was during his first tenure that the Primary School section of the Institute was gradually phased out for the Secondary system. In his second tenure, electricity came to the school in 1950 courtesy of a crank generator, and water was supplied by a 120-feet deep Well constructed in 1952. The handing over of the Old Mission House (The Old Castle, which had served as Manse to Oron Circuit Missionaries) to the school was also facilitated by him. On May 1, 1956, at 9 o’clock in the morning, the MBHS and indeed Esuk-Oro community where the school is located woke up to a gloomy Tuesday. Tears flowed freely as the Christian couple pulled out of their abode of many years. It was a moving moment as the school bell tolled farewell to the Wiles family that have done so much for the people and meant so much to them in the seventeen years they spent living for the school. Rev. & Mrs. Wiles left for England. They left behind a school that had grown in reputation and stature throughout Southern Nigeria and beyond. Rev. Wiles died in April 1995 at the age of 91 in Wells, Somerset, Southern England. At MBHS Oron, we have an ANCHOR that keeps the soul. ⚓
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