James Wild was a British architect. He was recruited as an architectural draughtsman for the Prussian expedition of the Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius (1810–1884). The expedition set off for Egypt in 1842 with the objective of completing extensive surveys of ancient Egyptian monuments. However, Wild took his leave of Lepsius' employment in April 1844 and remained in Cairo, where for the following three years he dedicated himself to the study of Islamic architecture and decorative design (Thomas, 2013, p. 42–44). After having travelled to Constantinople, Italy, and Spain, he returned to Great Britain in 1848 (Thomas, 2013, p. 54). Wild had an Arab studio at Cunningham Place 18 (Weinreb et al., 2011, p. 227). 1878–1892 Wild was the curator of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.
Nine of Wild's sketchbooks from his period in Egypt, in which he also studied stucco and glass windows, were donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum by his daughter Elizabeth Wild in 1938 (Thomas 2013, p. 45).

Thomas, A. (2013). James Wild, Cairo and the South Kensington Museum. In M. Volait (ed.), Le Caire dessiné et photographié au XIXe* *siècle (pp. 41–68). Paris: Picard.

Weinreb, B., Hibbert, C., Keay, J., & Keay, J. (2011). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd Edition). Macmillan.