Charles William Roe was an industrialist, and a prominent citizen of Macclesfield in the 18th century. Born in Castleford, Derbyshire, in 1715, he came to live with relatives in Macclesfield as a child after both his parents died.
He played an important part in establishing the silk industry in Macclesfield, establishing a small mill in the town in 1743–4 and a larger one on Waters Green – the market place – in 1748.
In 1756 he started mining copper, both at Coniston in the Lake District and at Alderley Edge (near Macclesfield). Eight years later he obtained a 21–year mining lease for Parys Mountain in Anglesey, and for a lead mine in Caernarvonshire. In March 1768 a very large deposit of copper ore, known as The Great Lode, was discovered on Parys Mountain, turning it into the largest copper mine in Europe.
Roe was mayor of Macclesfield in 1747–8. A street was named after him, and Macclesfield's Silk Museum Heritage Centre is now located on it.
Dorothy Bentley Smith is a local historian of Macclesfield. Her biography was published in 2005 and is entitled A Georgian Gent: the Life and Times of Charles Roe.
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