Herbert Allen Giles

Herbert A. Giles (1845-1935) is best known for his work on the Wade-Giles system for romanizing Mandarin, a revision of an earlier system by Sir Thomas Francis Wade (1818-95), whom he succeeded as professor of Chinese at Cambridge.

Giles served as a British consular official in various parts of China from 1867-92. He was first posted to Taiwan 1867. He also served as British Consul at Tamsui (Danshui) from 1885-87.

I've posted the complete text of four of his books. Chinese Sketches is probably of the most interest to readers today.

Chinese Sketches (1876)
Religions of Ancient China (1905)
Chinese Civilization (1911)
China and the Manchus (1912)