Charles Stokes FGS FLS FRAS FRGS FRS FSA (c. 1784 – 28 December 1853) was a London stockbroker who gained a reputation both as an amateur scientist and as an art collector.

[22][23] In 1838, he was one of the group of eminent scientists who presented a successful petition to Parliament recommending the purchase of two important collections of fossils for the British Museum.

Lyell called Stokes "a respected member of the Stock Exchange, full of vast research in the Natural History Sciences, and remarkable for literary and antiquarian, musical and artistic, knowledge".

Although constantly and assiduously engaged in business, Mr. Stokes contrived, whilst passing his days in the City and on the Stock Exchange, of which he was a most respected member, to acquire a vast amount of minute and accurate scientific information, and to pursue original, though, alas, too seldom published researches; and there was scarcely any department of the natural history sciences with which his acquaintance was not considerable.

Careless of fame and brimful of benevolence, he laboured incessantly, whenever a moment of leisure permitted, to advance science by every means that lay within his power.

He collected rare and interesting specimens at any cost, not for their own sakes, but to place at the disposal of any competent person who had the requisite knowledge and determination to investigate the subjects they could serve to elucidate.

When lithography was in its infancy in England, he foresaw what could be done with the rising art; and, sparing no expense, found a zealous and talented ally in the late Mr. Hullmandel for experimenting on his suggestions.

The subject of the fossilization of wood was one which he pursued even to the last; and only two months before his death I received a letter from him, accompanying some specimens illustrative of his views, and inquiring about others.

In the 5th volume of the 2nd series of our Transactions is published a valuable paper by him on this subject, containing an explanation of the phaenomena exhibited by partially silicified wood, and of the progressive steps in the process of petrifaction.

[35] In an address to the Royal Geographical Society on 22 May 1854, the Earl of Ellesmere, its then President, said: In Mr. Charles Stokes science has lost one of its most enlightened promoters, there being few of its branches with which he was not well acquainted.

If he published little, he has secured for his memory a lasting tribute from a distinguished younger contemporary, Professor Edward Forbes, who has declared that "he was one of the 'many' who owed much to the sound sense and surprising knowledge of Mr. Charles Stokes, a man as careless of fame as he was brimful of benevolence".

[44]In May and June 1854, Sotheby's sold off Stokes' library and his scientific collections in separate dedicated auctions;[45] which suggests that both were of substantial size.

[48] He described the following taxa: In a letter of 1846 to Royal Navy Captain Sir James Ross, Stokes described two species which Ross had dredged from Antarctic waters: Hornera lateralis (genus Hornera, a Bryozoan, in family Horneridae, in suborder Cancellata); and Primnoa rossii (genus Primnoa, a soft coral).