Constituency : Devizes 1892-5, Bristol East 1900-18
Charles unseated the prominent Tory Walter Long at Devizes.
Charles was a baronet's son educated at Eton and Cambridge. He served as a lieutenant in the 60th Rifles from 1884-90.
Charles was parliamentary private secretary at the Colonial Office from 1892 to 1895. He was defeated in 1895.
Charles had a reputation as a New Liberal who would support nationalisation in some circumstances.
Charles returned in 1900 for Bristol East. In 1901 he helped organise a letter of protest against Asquith's disruptive dinner speeches. He was appointed a Church Estates Commissioner in 1906 then under secretary of state for India in 1907. In 1908 Asquith promoted him to Financial Secretary to the Treasury at the suggestion of the Joint permanent Secretary.
In 1911 Charles joined the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was an opponent of women's suffrage and addressed a rally of the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage in 1912 . He supported going to war "if there was even a merely technical breach of the Belgium treaty". In 1914 he was switched to Postmaster-General but left the government in 1915. He rejected calls for a minimum wage in the Post Office. Charles' diaries are an invaluable source on the deliberations of Asquith's Cabinet.
Charles succeeded to the baronetcy in 1916.
In the 1918 election Charles declared he would not support the Coalition and this produced a rival Liberal candidate who did receive the coupon and won the seat, Charles received less than 10% of the vote.
Charles was President of the Western Counties Liberal Federation from 1924 to 1935 and President of the National Liberal Federation from 1927 to 1930.
He died in 1941 aged 78.
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