Charles William Peach was born on September 30, 1800, in Wansford, Northamptonshire, England.

He was a British mounted coastguard officer and amateur naturalist, and geologist. In 1824, he was appointed riding officer in the HM Coastguard at Weybourne in Norfolk, where the shore seaweeds and other marine organisms attracted his attention. About 1830, he was transferred to Gorran Haven in Cornwall, where he had more opportunities to study marine life. Here he discovered new Mollusca, sea urchins, starfish, sponges, and a spectacular holothurian (sea cucumber) with twenty tentacles. In 1841, he read a paper before the British Association at Plymouth, "On the Fossil Organic Remains Found on the South-East Coast of Cornwall." In 1853, Peach was transferred to Peterhead, Scotland, and then to Wick as Comptroller of Customs. He made an important fossil discovery in limestone on the coast near Durness, Scotland. Here he also acted as Consul for Norway. As a Customs Officer, he collected the hulls of ocean-going ships in dry-dock and supplied Charles Darwin with cirripede (barnacle) specimens from all over the world. In 1861, he retired and settled in Edinburg, Scotland. He served as President of the Royal Geological Society, Edinburgh, from 1870 to 1874.

In 1829, he married Jemima Mabson (1803–1882). He died on February 28, 1886, in Edinburgh, Scotland.