Charles Riley

Who was Charles Riley?

Charles Owen Leaver Riley was the first Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Western Australia.

Riley was born in Birmingham, Warwick, the eldest child of the Reverend Lawrence William Riley, vicar of St Cross, Knutsford, England, and his wife Emma, née Shaw. Riley was educated at Heversham Grammar School and Owen's College, Manchester, and Caius College, Cambridge where he graduated B.A. in 1878, M.A. in 1881, and was given the honorary degree of D.D. in 1894. He was ordained deacon in 1878 and priest in 1879, and was curate at Brierly, Yorkshire from 1878 to 1880, Bradford from 1880 to 1882, and Lancaster from 1882 to 1885. He became vicar of St Paul's, Preston, in 1885, a position he held for nine years.

In 1894 Riley was appointed Bishop of Perth, Western Australia, then the largest Anglican diocese in the world, with an area of 1,000,000 square miles and a scattered population of about 100,000. He was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey on 18 October 1894.