The son of William Giles and his wife Sophia, née Allen, he was born on 26 October 1808 at Southwick House, in the parish of
Mark, Somerset. At the age of sixteen he entered
Charterhouse School as a Somerset scholar. From Charterhouse he was elected to a Bath and Wells scholarship at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 26 November 1824. In Easter term 1828 he obtained a
double first class honours degree, and shortly afterwards graduated B.A., proceeding M.A. in 1831, in which year he gained the Vinerian scholarship, and took his D.C.L. degree in 1838. His election to a fellowship at Corpus Christi College on 15 November 1832 followed his college scholarship as a matter of course. Giles wished to become a barrister, but was persuaded by his mother to take orders, and was ordained to the curacy of
Cossington, Somerset. The following year he vacated his fellowship, and was married. In 1834 he was appointed to the head-mastership of
Camberwell Collegiate School, and on 24 November 1836 was elected head-master of the
City of London School. The school did not do well under him, and he resigned on 23 January 1840; his resignation, however, has also been attributed to some misfortune connected with building speculations. He was succeeded by
George Ferris Whidborne Mortimer. He retired to a house which he had built near
Bagshot, and there took pupils, and wrote. After a few years Giles became curate of
Bampton, Oxfordshire, where he continued taking pupils, and edited and wrote a great number of books. Among them was one entitled
Christian Records, published in 1854, which related to the age and authenticity of the books of the New Testament.
Samuel Wilberforce as
bishop of Oxford, required him, on pain of losing his curacy, to suppress this work, and break off with another literary undertaking. After some letters, which were published, he complied with the bishop's demand. In September 1846 Giles secured an introduction to
André-Marie Ampère from
Sainte-Beuve, and subsequently contributed amongst other works six volumes of Bede to
Jacques Paul Migne's
Patrologia Latina. On 6 March 1855 Giles was tried at the Oxford spring assizes before
Lord Campbell, on the charges of having entered in the marriage register book of Bampton parish church a marriage under date 3 October 1854, which took place on the 5th, having himself performed the ceremony out of
canonical hours, soon after 6 a.m.; of having falsely entered that it was performed by license; and of having forged the mark of a witness who was not present. He pleaded not guilty, but it was clear that he had committed the offence to cover the pregnancy of one of his servants, whom he married to her lover, Richard Pratt, a shoemaker's apprentice. Pratt's master, one of Giles's parishioners, instituted the proceedings. Giles spoke on his own behalf, and declared that he had published 120 volumes. His bishop also spoke for him. He was found guilty, but strongly recommended to mercy. Lord Campbell sentenced him to a year's imprisonment in
Oxford Castle. After three months' imprisonment he was released by royal warrant on 4 June 1855. After two or three years Giles took the curacy, with sole charge, of
Perivale in
Middlesex, and after five years became curate of
Harmondsworth, near
Slough. At the end of a year he resigned this curacy, and went to live at
Cranford, nearby, where he took pupils, and after a while moved to
Ealing. He did not resume clerical work until he was presented in 1867 to the living of
Sutton, Surrey, which he held for seventeen years, until his death on 24 September 1884. ==Works==