Charnock was educated as Winchester and Trinity College, Oxford, at university he wrote a number of political essays for periodicals, but came to dedicate himself to the study of Naval matters. In the pursuit of such knowledge it appears that he served for a time as a volunteer in the Navy, although the details of his service are not known. A falling out with his father forced him to fall back on researches in order to support himself.
He became friends with William Locker, Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, and had access to his extensive collection of documents which were of great assistance in the compilation of the present work. “His acquaintance with many of the officers whose lives are related, and his knowledge of naval tradition, gave Charnock’s book a peculiar value. At the same time, Charnock had little access to original documentation and, though painstaking to a degree, he had very hazy ideas as to the credibility of evidence and a tendency to confuse officers of the same surname. Sir John Laughton, who checked his work extensively for the Dictionary of National Biography, observed: “The book is useful, but it should be used with caution.” [ODNB]
He subsequently published a three-volume History of Marine Architecture, and a Life of Nelson. “He died… in great poverty, and not impossibly in a debtors’ gaol or an insane asylum… Charnock’s career may be seen as a warning of the perils of professional naval authorship - and linked to William James, William O’Byrne, and other disappointed men.” [ibid.]
Inked ownership inscription of F[rancis] W[all] Justice [Lieutenant] R.N. to the front pastedown of the final volume.