In July 1928 he assumed the surname "Scott-Giles" by
deed poll.[5]
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 as initiator of the concept and name of
The White Lion Society.[6]
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)
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's Divine Comedy.[8]
Following his retirement he settled in Cambridge, where he was made a Fellow-Commoner of his old college, Sidney Sussex.[2]
Arms
Coat of arms of Wilfrid Scott-Giles
Adopted
1936
Crest
On a torse argent & gules issuing from a circular chain square-linked or a demi-swan rousant the head lowered proper.
Escutcheon
Ermine, a cross double parted & fretted gules interlaced with an annulet or. [11]
Motto
Strive and Thrive
References
^The spelling of his second Christian name varies. It appears as "Wilfrid" on the title pages of several of his books, such as The Romance of Heraldry (1929) and The History of Emanuel School (1935), and in the London Gazette notice of his appointment as Fitzalan Pursuivant in 1957; but as "Wilfred" in the London Gazette notice of his change of surname in 1928, and in his obituary in The Times in 1982.
^
abcM. M. (12 March 1982). "Obituary: Mr C. W. Scott-Giles, Influential writer on heraldic matters". The Times. p. 14.
^Smith, Robert M (July 1950). "Review: Shakespeare's Heraldry". Shakespeare Quarterly. 1 (3). Folger Shakespeare Library: 183–184.
doi:
10.2307/2866427.
JSTOR2866427.
^Dante Alighieri. The Comedy of Dante Alighieri the Florentine. Tr. Dorothy L. Sayers. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 3 vols: Hell (1949); Purgatory (1955); Paradise (1962).