He was born in Sale, Victoria, to banker Henry Baker Chomley and his wife Eliza (daughter of lawyer and politician Thomas Turner à Beckett).

[2] Eliza à Beckett sailed with her father and family from London, arriving on HMS Andromache to Port Adelaide in December 1850.

[5] The return to Melbourne signalled the launch of Chomley's journalistic career, and in the same year as retiring to the city, he took up his first editorship position at the illustrated weekly Arena.

Dedicated to the arts, politics, and society gossip, the magazine also demonstrated strong support of both the suffragette movement and free trade.

These works included novels, a biography, short stories, a children's book, and song lyrics, as well as various articles for the publications he contributed to or edited.

In 1908, he became editor of the British Australasian, a weekly tabloid that provided Antipodeans in London a link to news, markets, weather, and society information from home.

Under Chomley's editorship, the magazine developed a distinctly more artistic tone, with some summer numbers featuring sketches, poetry, short stories and interviews with prominent members of the Australasian arts community in London.

Matters of religion were largely absent from its pages; after trialling several churches in Melbourne, Chomley had settled on Agnosticism.

[13] Predeceased by his wife in 1940, Chomley left daughters Isla, Francie, and Betty and son Arthur Charles.

The Australian political climate saw several dramatic changes around the turn of the 20th century, such as the women's suffrage movement, alongside many party amalgamations.

During this period, Charles Henry Chomley was secretary of the Victorian Citizens League, and had a consistent dialogue with leader of the Protectionist Party; Alfred Deakin.

[17] Chomley's knowledge and interest in the law was also prominently reflected in his writing, influenced by his family's deep involvement in the colonial legal system.

In his discussion of The True Story of the Kelly Gang of Bushrangers, Paul Eggert writes: "He often expresses scepticism about the extant accounts of events and of motives, but his attitude is always one of confident understanding and conservative judgement".

[21] Likewise, his 1905 novel Mark Meredith: A Tale of Socialism gained considerable national attention, and was primarily well received by various critics.

[22][23][24] A less favourable review called Mark Meredith an "odd and grossly inferior parallel to Jack London’s contemporary The Iron Heel".

Sir William à Beckett (1806–1869) worked as a solicitor, barrister, judge, and eventually Chief Justice.