Charles Winston was a historian of stained glass. In 1845, he was called to the bar, and he practised law until 1864. His knowledge of glass is based on his close personal study of it in situ, which started at an early age in the churches of his native county. In 1847, he published An Inquiry into the Difference of Style Observable in Ancient Glass Paintings especially in England. He acted as a consultant on stained glass for windows in various churches and cathedrals.
Several further publications followed, among them his Memoirs Illustrative of the Art of Glass-Painting, 1865.

Brown, S. (2020). Medieval Stained Glass and the Victorian Restorer. 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century 30. DOI:10.16995/ntn.2901