Charles Starmer was born in Haltham, near Horncastle in Lincolnshire but while he was still a child he moved with his family to the Cleveland area of the North Riding of Yorkshire.

His newspaper businesses, political service and interests in labour questions and the condition of the north east of England were all mentioned in the context of his knighthood.

[5] Starmer fought his first Parliamentary contest at the 1918 general election, when he stood as an independent Asquithian Liberal in the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham.

[9] He was selected to fight Darlington as an Independent Liberal for the 1922 general election,[10] but did not stand as a candidate in the event, transferring instead to the Cleveland Division of the North Riding of Yorkshire, where he came second to the sitting Conservative MP, Sir Park Goff, in a three-cornered contest with Labour.

[11] He did not fight another Parliamentary election being too unwell to stand in 1931[12] Starmer was a Member of the Executive Committee of the National Liberal Federation from 1928 until his death.