Colonel Sir Charles Edward Merrett CBE (28 January 1863[1] – 11 November 1948) was an Australian merchant, agriculturist and political activist.
His father died in 1878 and Charles, despite being a graduate from Melbourne Grammar School, was unable to attend university and instead became an office-boy at a merchants' and manufacturer's representation firm in 1880.
[4] In 1915 Merrett was appointed president of the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria he would serve a record term of 32 years, retiring in 1947.
His later career tended towards organisational politics but he became disenchanted with the Nationalist Party and instead he and Thomas Ashworth founded the Liberal Union, a breakaway group opposed to Billy Hughes' leadership.
He was also the chairman of a number of organisations, including the Canned Fruits Export Control Board, the Big Brother Movement, the New Settlers League, the State Employment Council and the Society for the Protection of Animals.