Charles Hadfield was born at Pietersburg, South Africa, where his New Zealand-born father was an Assistant Resident Magistrate; his mother was daughter of a Devon clergyman. Hadfield went to England in 1924 to be educated at Blundell's School, Devon, after which he went up to St Edmund Hall, Oxford. In 1936 he joined the Oxford University Press.
Charles Hadfield was born in Pietersburg, South Africa, to parents from New Zealand and Devon. He studied at Blundell's School in England and went on to attend St Edmund Hall, Oxford, before becoming part of the Oxford University Press team in 1936.