Charlton Reid Beattie was the son of sugar cane planters in one of the most prominent families of Lafourche Parish of the 19th Century. Judge Beattie was born on April 22, 1869, in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. Judge Beattie's parents were Judge Taylor Beattie, a veteran officer of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and Fannie Estelle Pugh Beattie, daughter "of an old and prominent family." His ancestry on both his paternal and maternal sides could be traced back to Scottish and Irish immigrants to America in the 1680s-1690s. In addition to his long-time service as an elected state court judge, Judge Beattie's father, who resided in Thibodaux, was a candidate for governor in 1879 and Congress in 1882 and owned "several plantations, but his residence and office are situated across the LaFourche Bayou and in a perfect forest of oak trees. . . . He has a most beautiful and charming home and is surrounded by everything that makes one cheerful in spirit and in hope."

Judge Beattie earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1889 and an LL.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1891. He had a private law practice in Thibodaux from 1892 to 1913. He subsequently established a law practice in New Orleans and was a member of the Tulane Law School faculty. Judge Beattie was also a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.

A Republican, Judge Beattie was nominated on January 19, 1925, by President Calvin Coolidge to a seat on the federal trial bench in New Orleans. He was confirmed by the United States Senate within one week, and he received his commission on January 21, 1925. Judge Beattie died on August 23, 1925, at the age of 56, having served as a federal judge for only seven months.