Born on 28 October 1882 in Exeter, his father was William Naper a Lieut-Colonel, and his mother was Jane Wyatt Naper (nee Edgell). His education was at Haileybury College in 1898 and the Royal Academy Schools from 1900-1907.

He married Ella Louise Champion [See Ella Louise NAPER] in 1910, and they moved first to Looe and then to Trewoofe in Lamorna, where they were to live for the rest of their lives. The initial challenge was to buy three fields from Colonel Paynter, the local landowner, and for this purchase they were able to borrow from Charles' family.

Naper designed the house himself to include a large studio for himself, a workshop for Ella, and extensive gardens which they created together. Just below their house was Oakhill Cottage, where Laura and Harold Knight became their near neighbours and closest friends. Other friends were the BIRCH family, the HEATHS and the HUGHES. In his later years he deliberately destroyed almost all of his studio paintings, and some he had by other artists (MUNNINGS, Laura KNIGHT) and was a reclusive, generally uncommunicative person, becoming increasingly wholly dependent on Ella. They were both devoted to each other, and there was no friction at all due to Ella's greater competence and fulfilling success. A few later paintings survived with the family, and they depict the awesome cliffs of West Cornwall.