Historic figures: C
- John Cabot (c.1450 - 1498) - 15th century Italian explorer, discovered North America
- Julius Caesar (100BC - 44BC) - Roman warlord and politician
- Caligula (AD 12 - 41) - Roman emperor, megalomaniac
- James Callaghan (1912 - 2005) - 20th century Labour prime minister
- Caravaggio (1571-1610) - Italian Baroque artist
- Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823) - 18th century industrial pioneer, invented the power loom
- Fidel Castro (1926- ) - 20th century communist revolutionary, president of Cuba
- Catherine of Aragon (1485 - 1536) - wife of Henry VIII, mother of Mary
- Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796) - Russian empress for more than 30 years
- William Caxton (c.1422 - 1492) - brought printing to England, 15th century
- Neville Chamberlain (1869 - 1940) - pre-World War Two Conservative prime minister
- Jean-François Champollion (1790 - 1832) - Egyptologist, deciphered hieroglyphics
- Charlemagne (c. 747 - c. 814) - King of the Franks and Christian Emperor of the West.
- Prince Charles (1948 - ) - Prince of Wales - heir to the British throne
- Charles I (1600 - 1649) - king of England, scotland and Ireland, executed
- Charles II (1630 - 1685) - king of England, scotland and Ireland, restored the monarchy
- Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343 - 1400) - 14th century author, wrote 'The Canterbury Tales'
- Chiang Kai-shek (1887 - 1975) - 20th century Chinese nationalist leader
- Vere Gordon Childe (1892 - 1957) - 20th century archaeologist, theorist
- Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) - statesman, World War Two prime minister, national hero
- Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) - leading campaigner against slave trade
- Claudius (10 BC - 54 AD) - Roman emperor, conqueror of Britain
- Cleopatra (c.69 BC - 30 BC) - Egyptian ruler, last of the Ptolemys, lover of Julius Caesar
- Bill Clinton (1946- ) - late 20th century US president
- John Colet (1467 - 1519) - educational pioneer, 16th century
- Michael Collins (1890 - 1922) - Irish republican leader, soldier and politician
- Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506) - Italian explorer, discovered the Americas, 15th century
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) - 19th-20th century author, created Sherlock Holmes
- John Constable (1776-1837) - 19th century landscape artist
- Captain James Cook (1728 - 1779) - 18th century explorer, navigator
- Copernicus (1473-1543) - astronomer, said earth orbits the sun
- Hernando Cortés (1485-1547) - Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec empire
- Thomas Cranmer (1489 - 1556) - architect of English Reformation, advisor to Henry VIII
- Crick and Watson (1916-2004) - discovered structure of DNA, Nobel prize winners
- Oliver Cromwell (1599 - 1658) - English revolutionary, regicide and lord protector
- Thomas Cromwell (c.1485 - 1540) - architect of English Reformation, advisor to Henry VIII
- William Cuffay (1788 - 1870) - 19th century social reformer
- Marie Curie (1867 - 1934) - 19th-20th century scientist, winner of two Nobel prizes