Charles Joseph Henderson, KC*HS was born in County Waterford, Ireland on 14 April 1924, where he was ordained as a priest on 6 June 1948. He was educated locally by the Christian Brothers and trained for the priesthood in St. John's College, Waterford. Based in England, Henderson was appointed vicar general of the new diocese Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, which was created out of Southwark in 1965. He was made a papal chamberlain in 1960 and a prelate to the papal household in 1965. In 1969 he was appointed as the parish priest for Our Lady Help of Christians, Blackheath.