John Wiles was born 12th April 1895 to Thomas Storey Wiles and mother Alice in Hunslet Leeds His father was a Police constable in Leeds. He had two sisters Alice and Hilda and a brother Harry who served in the army and survived the war. He enlisted 12th April 1913 and served on HMS Ganges, HMS Impregnable, HMS Hercules, HMS Victory 1, HMS Revenge, HMS Albemarle, HMS Woolwich, HMS Tigress and finally on HMS Nomad at Jultand.

He lost his life at the Battle of Jutland aboard the HMS Nomad. The destroyer Nomad, was a unit of the 13th Flotilla at the battle of Jutland on May 31st, 1916. At 4.15 on the afternoon of the battle the flotilla made a determined attack on Admiral Hipper's battle cruisers, Nomad being the second in the line.  She was hit in the boilers and disabled before she came within torpedo range. About 30 minutes later the battleships of the German High Seas Fleet steaming to the assistance of Admiral Hipper came upon Nomad and her sister ship, Nestor, lying athwart their course.  Despite the avalanche of fire that fell upon them both destroyers discharged their torpedoes in a gallant, but futile, gesture of defiance. The survivors from both craft then took to the boats, being picked up later by a German destroyer.  Considering the heavy fire to which they had been subjected the casualties among Nomad's complement of 80 were miraculously light, amounting to one officer and seven ratings killed (one being John Wiles witnessed by Lt.Cdr. P. Whitfield ).

Simon Dodds