Revd Dr John Allen Giles (1808–1884)
Scholar, writer, local historian
Cobb House, Church Close, Bampton
Portrait of the Revd Dr John Allen Giles
by Charles C. Grant
John Allen Giles was born at Mark, Somerset to William and Sophie Giles. Educated at Charterhouse and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he graduated with First Class Honours. He was ordained deacon in 1832, priest in 1835, and awarded the DCL in 1838. He had married in 1833, thereby relinquishing a college fellowship. He was appointed to headships at Camberwell School and City of London School before arriving in Bampton as Perpetual Curate in 1846.
Ranking highly among Victorian scholars as a prolific translator and editor of a great variety of medieval texts: Aldhelm, Bede, Alfred, Lanfranc, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Peter of Blois and notably Thomas Becket, his aim was to interpret the medieval past for the emerging mass audience of culturally aspirant readers. He published in the inexpensive Bohn’s Library series. He was also the author of a series of school books, Dr Giles’ Juvenile Library and Dr Giles’ Keys to the Classics. Altogether he published some 180 books.
In Bampton he turned his attention to local history, recording specific topography and customs, an innovative approach at that time, in the History of Bampton (1848) and the History of Witney (1852). He established a printing press, manned by local girls, at the vicarage in 1846, a striking venture which inspired emulation by Dr Pusey. On the theological front he published Christian Records with a commentary challenging the received authorship of the Gospels, arguing that they were written c.150 AD, and incurring the wrath of his Bishop, Samuel Wilberforce, who forced its suppression after a long and acrimonious correspondence.
The former vicarage, Bampton
His time as Perpetual Curate of Bampton came to an abrupt end in 1855 when he was found to have conducted a secret marriage ceremony and forged a false date and details in the marriage register, motivated by kindliness towards one of the printer girls at the vicarage. He was sentenced to a year in Oxford prison but released by royal warrant after three months. He later served again as a curate first in Perivale, then Harmondsworth and finally acquired the living at Sutton, Surrey, where he remained from 1867 until his death in 1884. He was buried at Churchill in Somerset.
His marriage to Anne Sarah Dickinson produced two daughters, Anna Isabella and Ellen Harriet, and a son, Herbert Allen Giles, the distinguished sinologist, who rose up the consular service in China and became Professor of Chinese at Cambridge.
Sources:
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, article by John Blair
The plaque was unveiled at Cobb House (former vicarage), Bampton by Professor John Blair on 11 July 2026, in the presence of Charles Maynard, MP for Witney, Cllr Ted Fenton, Chair of Oxfordshire County Council, Cllr Carl Rylett, Chair of West Oxon DC, and a gathering of local people.
- Photograph of Professor John Blair making his speech, with Professor Robert Evans
- Photograph of the unveiling
- Speech made by Professor John Blair at the unveiling ceremony
- Nicholas Vincent: “John Allen Giles and Herbert of Bosham: The criminous clerk as editor”,
reproduced with permission from Michael Staunton (ed.), Herbert of Bosham: A medieval polymath
Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board
The Revd Dr
JOHN ALLEN GILES
1808–1884
Scholar, writer, editor
and local historian
Perpetual Curate of Bampton
1846–1855
Lived Here
