Constituency : Glasgow 1874-85, Glasgow College 1885-95, Glasgow Bridgeton 1897-1900
Charles topped the poll in Glasgow. Both William Graham and Robert Dalglish had stood down; a Tory got the other seat.
Charles was a doctor. He was born in Dublin where his father owned a newspaper and went to Trinity College. He studied at medical schools in Europe but never actually practised. In 1864 he became editor of the North British Daily Mail and then its managing proprietor from 1871.
Charles put his name behind a number of radical campaigns. He introduced an Inebriates Act in 1898, helped reform Scottish liquor laws and sat on a Royal Commission on the subject in 1895. He helped secure the municipal franchise for women and abolish imprisonment for debt in Scotland. He was also behind the introduction of the sixpenny telegram.
In 1886 Charles opposed the Church of Scotland Bill as disadvantaging the Presbyterians and in March introduced his own motion for disestablishment and disendowment. That same month he moved to reduce the naval estimates as a protest against waste.
Charles was president of the Cremation Society of Great Britain.
Charles was defeated in 1895 but returned at a by-election in 1897. He stood down in 1900.
In later life Charles was a keen motorist.
He died in 1924 aged 82.
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