Herbert Giles

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Herbert Giles
Born December 8, 1845(1845-12-08)
Died February 13, 1935(1935-02-13) (aged 89)
Citizenship British
Fields History, sinology

Herbert Allen Giles (8 December 1845 – 13 February 1935) was a British diplomat and sinologist, educated at Charterhouse. He modified a Mandarin Chinese Romanization system earlier established by Thomas Wade, resulting in the widely known Wade-Giles Chinese transliteration system. Among his prolific works were translations of Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and the first widely published Chinese-English dictionary.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Herbert A. Giles was the fourth son of John Allen Giles (1808–1884), an Anglican clergyman. After studying at Charterhouse, Herbert became a British diplomat to China (1867–1892). He also spent several years at Fort Santo Domingo (1885–1888) in Tamsui, Taiwan. He was the father of Bertram, Valentine, Lancelot, Edith, Mable, and Lionel Giles. In 1897 Herbert Giles became only the second professor of Chinese appointed at the University of Cambridge, succeeding Thomas Wade.[3] At the time of his appointment, there were no other sinologists at Cambridge. Giles was therefore free to spend most of his time among the ancient Chinese texts earlier donated by Thomas Wade, publishing what he translated from his wide reading.[4]

Giles received the Prix St. Julien award from the French Academy in 1897 for his Chinese Biographical Dictionary. He dedicated the third edition of Strange Stories (1916) to his seven grandchildren, but at the end of his life was on speaking terms with only one of his surviving children. An ardent agnostic, he was also an enthusiastic freemason. He never became a Fellow at one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge, despite being a university professor for 35 years. He finally retired in 1932, and died in his ninetieth year.

[edit] Diplomatic Postings

[edit] Written works

LONDON : Trübner & CO. SHANGHAI : KELLY & WALSH. pp. 74. http://books.google.com/books?id=Q1UuAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 10th of February, 2012. (Harvard University)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ A Chinese-English Dictionary (Hua-Ying Zidian) (1892, Shanghai; 1912, London)
  2. ^ Tao: The Way - Special Edition El Paso Norte Press, 2005 ISBN 1934255130
  3. ^ Venn, J.; Venn, J. A., eds. (1922–1958). "Giles, Herbert Allen". Alumni Cantabrigienses (10 vols) (online ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
  4. ^ Aylmer, Charles, East Asian History 13-14, 1997, pp. 1-7; Sterckx, Roel, In the Fields of Shennong: An inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge on 30 September 2008 to mark the establishment of the Joseph Needham Professorship of Chinese History, Science and Civilization. Cambridge: Needham Research Institute, 2008.

[edit] Additional sources

  • Cooley, James C., Jr. T.F. Wade in China: Pioneer in Global Diplomacy 1842-1882. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1981.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

[edit] External links

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