Her parents were Harriet (born Sykes) and John Addington Symonds, Sr. who was a physician and the author of Criminal Responsibility (1869), The Principles of Beauty (1857) and Sleep and Dreams.

She was the last of their four children and her elder brother was the poet and literary critic John Addington Symonds.

[1] In 1871 she married Thomas Hill Green, a friend of her brothers who was known as appearing dull, and Charlotte's father settled £10,000 on the couple as a wedding present.

[2] Green was one of "the don's wives" who organised lectures for women in Oxford[1] which included Lavinia Talbot,[4] Louise Creighton and Mary Augusta Ward.

Green would go on five years later to join the Association for Promoting the Education of Women in Oxford as a founding member and become the first woman secretary.