Born in Huntingdon, Lower Canada to Captain Alexander Davidson and Marion Peers, Davidson was educated at McGill University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1863, a Master of Arts degree in 1867, a Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1873, and a D.C.L.

He was appointed to the Quebec Bar in 1864 and was made a Queen's Counsel in 1876.

[1] In 1887 he was appointed a puisne judge of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec.

[1] Charles fathered seven children by his wife, Alice Harriet Mattice (aunt to the namer of Mattice-Val Côté), including Cam and Shirley Davidson (who both won the Stanley Cup), and Thornton Davidson.

Thornton's wife, Orion Hays (later Hickson) (1884–1979), survived the 1912 shipwreck, later remarried, and eventually was laid to rest next to Thornton Davidson and her parents at Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.