Charles Lapworth was born on September 20, 1842, in Faringdon, Berkshire, England.

He was an English geologist. He was trained as a teacher at the Culham Diocesan Training College near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. His first post, in 1864, was in Galashiels, and in 1875, he was appointed to Madras College in St. Andrews. Lapworth’s interest in geology started shortly after his move to Scotland. Largely self-taught in the subject, he soon began to make significant contributions towards unravelling the geology of the Southern Uplands. His researches were published in 1899, in the "Memoir on the Geology of the Southern Uplands of Scotland". In 1881, he was appointed as the first Professor of Mineralogy and Geology at Mason College, the forerunner of the University of Birmingham. His title was subsequently changed to Professor of Physiography and Geology. He studied the rocks of the Midlands and Welsh Borderland and took groups of students, amateur, and professional geologists on field excursions. He mapped the Lower and Middle Cambrian rocks. The Lapworth Museum on the campus of the University of Birmingham, one of the oldest specialist geological museums in Britain, houses an extensive collection of fossils and minerals dating back to 1880. In 1888, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1891, he was awarded their Royal Medal. In 1899, he received the highest award of the Geological Society of London, the Wollaston Medal. In 1902, he was elected President of the Geological Society (1902-1904). Aberdeen University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1884 and Glasgow University in 1912 (both L.L.D.). In 1916, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 1869, he married Janet Sanderson (1849-1924). He died on March 13, 1920, in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, England.