Ernest Alexander Charlton was born on 6 February 1892 in Newcastle, New South Wales. He played for Training College in the years before the war, sometimes with his older brother Leslie.
Second Lieutenant Charlton was promoted to Lieutenant in the field in France and returned to Australia without injury. He seems not to have resumed his soccer career.
Ernest Alexander Charlton died on 25 March 1968 in Perth, Western Australia, when he was 76 years old.