French journalist and psychic, and the third of the five children of novelist, poet, and dramatist Victor Hugo and his wife, Adèle Foucher.
In February 1848, he was secretary to Alphonse de Lamartine. On 1 October he founded the political newspaper L’Événement with his father, his brother François-Victor Hugo, Paul Meurice and Auguste Vacquerie. He first supported Lamartine, then turned his back on him and finally approved of the candidacy of Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte against Louis Eugene Cavaignac. He then regretted his decision in 1849, upon the arrival in power of the one who would be called “Napoléon le Petit” (The Little Napoleon) by his own father.
On 16 May 1851, he published an article against the death penalty, and was then prosecuted and defended by Victor Hugo. Sentenced on 30 July to six months in prison, he was imprisoned in the Conciergerie. Released from prison on 28 January 1852, he joined his father in exile in Brussels since the previous December 14, and then followed him to Jersey. There, in the company of François-Victor and Auguste Vacquerie, he created photographic portraits of the Hugo family and his entourage, often under the direction of the poet. Charles also played the role of medium in the spiritist sessions in which his father participated.
On 17 October 1865, he married Alice Lehaene in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, a suburb of Brussels. They had three children: Georges I (1867-1868), Georges II (1868-1925), and Jeanne Hugo (1869-1941).
He died of a stroke on 13 March 1871, aged 44, in Bordeaux, while on the way to meet his father at a cafe.
Link to Wikipedia biography (French)