Constituency : Wansbeck 1885-1918
Charles took the new seat of Wansbeck as a Liberal-Labour candidate.
Charles was a miner from Northumberland and, like John Wilson , also a Methodist lay preacher. He became a prominent official of the Northumberland Miners Association and was a close ally of Thomas Burt.
Charles' first parliamentary speech was supporting a motion against royalty rents to landowners with mines on their estates. He supported old age pensions.
In 1887 Charles was chairing the TUC conference at Swansea when Keir Hardie criticised Henry Broadhurst. He described Hardie as a revolutionary and a nuisance.
From 1890 to 1894 he became Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the T.U.C. and held the post till 1894 despite his opposition to the eight hour day. He was eventually ousted for his opposition to a separate labour party. In 1890 he was also appointed the leasder of the union representatives on the Labour Conciliation Board.
Charles was a supporter of William Cremer's International Arbitration League.
Charles refused to go over to the Labour party when the NMA affiliated in 1907. He remained a staunch Gladstonian.
Charles announced his retirement shortly before his death in 1918.
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