Cecil Wylde’s family originally came from Cheshire, England, but emigrated to the United States in 1892. Wylde spent his summers in England and winters in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in art and then went to Caius College, Cambridge, England, where he obtained a master’s degree in architecture, and later became an architect by profession. Wylde played ice hockey at Cambridge, and was a defenceman for the Great Britain team at the 1928 Olympics. Less than a month after the St. Moritz Games, the gold medal-winning Canada team visited Britain, and Wylde was in the England side expected to lose heavily to the Olympic champions, bearing in mind Canada had scored 38 goals without loss at St. Moritz, including 14 against Great Britain. Canada did beat England at the Westminster Ice Club, but lost their record of not conceding a goal stretching back to before the Olympics, when England scored four goals to Canada’s 11.