Wesley, Rev. Charles (1707–1788)

Born Dec. 18, 1707 in Epworth, the next to last child of Samuel Wesley and Susanna (Annesley) Wesley, CW was sent at the age of 8 to live in Westminster with his oldest brother Samuel Jr. who had recently become an usher in Westminster School. In 1721 CW was admitted as a King's Scholar at Westminster. In June 1726 he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, though it was a year before he secured the additional necessary funding to matriculate. In his first year at Oxford, away from all family influence ( JW was assisting his father in Wroot), CW explored the 'world' a bit, but by Mar 1729 was gathering with a couple of friends to support one another in piety and Christian charity—the beginnings of the 'Oxford Methodists'. CW also became part of the Cotswalds circle during this time, where his literary nickname was 'Araspes'. CW received his BA in 1730 and MA in 1733. In 1735, after the death of his father and in preparation for joining JW on the trip to Georgia, CW was ordained both deacon (Sept. 21) and priest (Sept. 29) in the Church of England. CW went to Georgia as Oglethorpe's secretary; he lasted less than a year, before returning to England (landing Dec. 3, 1736). CW's 'evangelical conversion' in 1738 took place on Pentecost (May 21), preceding his brother JW by three days. The brothers were soon engaged in the revival, with CW initially traveling and preaching nearly as much as JW. In Aug 1747, while preaching in Wales, CW met Sarah Gwynne Jr. The attraction between the two grew quickly, and they were married on April 8, 1749. One result was that CW soon ended regular itinerancy, focusing his pastoral support of Methodism in Bristol and London, and producing a major body of hymns and other religious verse. Charles and Sarah also produced eight children, though only three lived past infancy. Through his later years CW frequently criticized the desire of many Methodists to separate from the Church of England—and chided his brother for treating this threat too mildly. He died on March 29, 1788, very much a member of the Church, and was buried on consecrated ground at St. Marylebone church. See Alumni Oxonienses; DEB, 1169–71; ODNB; and Vickers, Dictionary, 379.