Charles Craven (6 May 1682 Coombe Abbey – 27 December 1754 Benham Park) was governor of colonial South Carolina from 19 March 1712 to 23 April 1716. He held the office during the end of the Tuscarora War and the beginning of the Yamasee War. He served as secretary to South Carolina's Lords Proprietors before being appointed governor by them.
Charles was the youngest son of William Craven of Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire and Benham Park in Berkshire and his wife, Margaret, the daughter of Sir Christopher Clapham of Beamsley in the West Riding of Yorkshire (now North Yorkshire). His eldest brother was William Craven, 2nd Baron Craven. He married one Elizabeth Staples and they lived on his country estate at Lechwick in Worcestershire. They were the grandparents of Jane Austen's sister-in-law.
At the start of the Yamasee War, in early 1715, Craven led a hastily assembled force of 240 militia troops against the Yamasee Indians. A pitched battled fought at Salkehatchie resulted in a decisive victory for South Carolina.
After the initial military victories of 1715, the South Carolina militia had trouble defending the colony and many members deserted. Governor Craven, having declared martial law at the start of the war, disbanded the militia and replaced it with a professional army. This was the first time the militia was disbanded as well as South Carolina's first professional army. Within a year, as the crisis of war ending, the army was dissolved.
Governor Craven founded the city of Beaufort, South Carolina.