The Reverend Charles Wesley |
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Portrait by John Russell
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Born |
Epworth, Lincolnshire, England |
18 December 1707
Died | 29 March 1788 London, England |
(aged 80)
Nationality | British |
Education | Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford |
Occupation | Cleric |
Spouse(s) | Sarah Wesley (née Gwynne) |
Children | 7 |
Parent(s) | Samuel and Susanna Wesley |
Relatives | Samuel Wesley (brother), Mehetabel Wesley Wright (sister), John Wesley (brother) |
Church | Church of England |
Charles Wesley (/ˈtʃɑːrlz ˈwɛsli/ or /ˈtʃɑːrlz ˈwɛzli/; 18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement, most widely known for writing more than 6,000 hymns.
Born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, Wesley was the son of Anglican cleric and poet Samuel Wesley and his wife Susanna Wesley, the younger brother of Methodist founder John Wesley and Anglican cleric Samuel Wesley the Younger, the father of musician Samuel Wesley and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley.
Wesley was educated at Oxford, where his brothers had also studied, and formed the "Holy Club" among his fellow students in 1729. John Wesley later joined this group, as did George Whitefield. Charles followed his father and brother into the church in 1735, and travelled with John to Georgia in America, returning a year later. In 1749, he married Sarah Gwynne, daughter of a Welsh gentleman who had been converted to Methodism by Howell Harris. She accompanied the brothers on their evangelical journeys throughout Britain, until Charles ceased to travel in 1765.