Charles Wilfrid (or Wilfred) Scott-Giles (24 October 1893 – 1982) was an English writer on

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...

and an

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve a ...

, who served as Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary.

Life

Charles Wilfrid Giles was born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 24 October 1893, the son of Charles Giles, sometime Chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.Godfrey, Wagner and London 1963, p. 257. He was educated at

Emanuel School Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...

in London, and served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

. Between 1919 and 1922 he read

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wif ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He then worked on the parliamentary staff of the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

before being appointed as secretary of the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers in 1928. In 1946 he became secretary of the Public Works and Municipal Services Congress and Exhibition Council. In July 1928 he assumed the surname "Scott-Giles" by

deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract because it binds only one party. Etymology The ...

. He became a leading authority on heraldry, and wrote a number of books and articles on the subject. He was credited by

John Brooke-Little John Philip Brooke Brooke-Little (6 April 1927 – 13 February 2006) was an English writer on heraldic subjects, and a long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London. In 1947, while still a student, Brooke-Little founded the Society of He ...

as initiator of the concept and name of The White Lion Society. He also wrote the standard histories of his old school, Emanuel, and of his old college, Sidney Sussex.

Publications

His heraldic publications included: *''The Romance of Heraldry'' (1929) *''Civic Heraldry of England and Wales'' (1933, 2nd edition 1953) *''Shakespeare's Heraldry'' (1950) *''Boutell's Heraldry'' (2nd revised edition) (1954) *''The siege of Caerlaverock rendered into rime'' (1960) *''Heraldry in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

'' (1961) *''Motley Heraldry'' (1962) *''Looking at Heraldry'' (1967) Other works included: *''The History of Emanuel School'' (1935; later editions, revised and supplemented by other authors, 1948, 1966, 1977) *''Sidney Sussex College: a short history'' (1951; revised edition 1975) *'' The Wimsey Family: A Fragmentary History Compiled from Correspondence With Dorothy L. Sayers'' (Gollancz, 1977). In another association with Sayers, Scott-Giles prepared the diagrams and maps illustrating Sayers' translation of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

''.

Honours and appointments

Scott-Giles was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1953, and in 1957 became Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary. In 1970 he was awarded the Julian Bickersteth Memorial Medal by the trustees and council of the

Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies The United Kingdom's Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies (IHGS) was founded in 1961 at Canterbury, Kent (its current location) by Cecil Humphery-Smith. Its library was created by donations from Humphery-Smith, Aylmer Buesst and others. ...

. Following his retirement he settled in Cambridge, where he was made a Fellow-Commoner of his old college, Sidney Sussex.

Life

Publications

Honours and appointments

Arms

References

Further reading