Giles was a diplomat to China (1867–1892) who later became a Chinese professor at Cambridge after living in Aberdeen, Scotland. His Chinese name is Zhai Lisi (翟理斯).

His publications include:

• Using Examples to Learn the Spoken Language (語學舉隅 Yuxue Jiuyu) (1873)
• Using Examples to Learn the Written Language (字學舉隅 Zixue Jiuyu) (1874)
• The 1415-page A Chinese-English Dictionary (華英字典 Hua-Ying Zidian) (1892, Shanghai; 1912, London)
  • containing Mandarin and nine southern dialects, such as Hakka, Cantonese, and Min