Charles Wilfred Scott-Giles (1893–1982) was an English officer of arms

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...

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Charles Wilfrid Giles was educated at Emanuel School

Emanuel School

Emanuel School is a co-educational independent school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded by Lady Dacre and Elizabeth I in 1594. Today it has some 710 pupils, aged between ten and eighteen.-History:...

 and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, where he read history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 between 1919 and 1922. Initially he worked on the parliamentary staff of the Press Association

Press Association

The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...

 before being appointed as secretary of the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers

Institution of Civil Engineers

Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...

 in 1928.

In July 1928 he assumed the surname "Scott-Giles".

He became a leading authority on heraldry

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

, and wrote a number of books and articles on the subject. These 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
  The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
  
  (1961)
• Motley Heraldry (1962)
• Looking at Heraldry (1967)

He also wrote the standard history of his alma mater

Alma mater

Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

, Sidney Sussex College, published in 1951.

He prepared The Wimsey Family

Duke of Denver

The fictitious title of Duke of Denver was created by Dorothy Sayers for the family of Lord Peter Wimsey. Lord Peter is the second of the three children of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver...

: A Fragmentary History Compiled from Correspondence With Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...

(Gollancz, 1977). In another association with Sayers, Scott-Giles prepared the diagrams and maps illustrating Sayers' translation of Dante

DANTE

Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...

's Divine Comedy.

Scott-Giles was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, and in 1957 became Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary

Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary

Fitzalan Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary is a current officer of arms in England. As a pursuivant extraordinary, Fitzalan is a royal officer of arms, but is not a member of the corporation of the College of Arms in London...

. In 1970 he was awarded the Julian Bickersteth Memorial Medal by the trustees and council of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies

Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies

The United Kingdom's Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies was founded in 1961 by Cecil Humphery-Smith. Its library was created by donations from Humphery-Smith, Aylmer Buesst and others....

.

Scott-Giles was also credited, by John Brooke-Little

John Brooke-Little

John Philip Rudolph Dominic Derek Aloysius Mary Brooke-Little, CVO, KStJ, FSA, FSG, FHS, FHG , FRHSC , FHSNZ, KM, GCGCO was an influential and popular British writer on heraldic subjects and a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London...

, as being the initial creator of the concept and name of The White Lion Society.