The ornamental turner Charles Holtzapffel was born in 1806. He was the son of the German engineer John Jacob Holtzapffel (1768-1835), from Alsace, who had settled in London in the 1780s and who had founded the tool business in the 1790s. Trading as John Holtzapffel in London's Long Acre, the firm was noted for its production of iron-bedded lathes with ornamental turning apparatus. In 1804 the firm was expanded to include John George Deyerlein but this arrangement lasted only until 1827.

In 1827, Charles Holtzapffel joined the firm at the age of 21. The younger Holtzapffel had received a good English education, and through careful training in the firm's workshop he had become a skilled engineer in his own right. On the death of his father, Charles carried on the firm and continued to develop the machinery and attachments for ornamental turnery. Other devices were invented too, including machinery for printing banknotes, a dividing engine for the graduation of drawing scales, and an apparatus for tracing geometrical figures on glass.

In 1838, Charles published hisNew system of scales of equal parts applicable to various purposes of engineering, architecture and general sciencefollowed by its complement, theList of scales of equal parts. In 1843, he publishedTurning and mechanical manipulation. Volume 1: Materials, their choice, preparation and various modes of working them. This was actually his father's work and was followed in 1846 by his ownTurning and mechanical manipulation. Volume 2: Construction, action, and application of cutting tools. By 1884, five volumes of this turner's bible had been published by Charles and his son John Jacob Holtzapffel II.

Charles Holtzapffel was a member of the Council of the Institute of Civil Engineers, and was Chairman of the Mechanic's Committee of the Society of Arts. He died on 11 April 1847 and his widow Amelia Vaux (Dutton) Holtzapffel managed the firm until 1853.

Their son John Jacob became head of the firm in 1867 and managed the business until 1896 when Charles' nephew George William Budd (later known as George William Holtzapffel) took over. John Jacob Holtzapffel II died in Eastbourne on 14 October 1897.

In 1919, Colonel John George Holtzapffel Budd, the son of George William Holtzapffel, began to take an active part in running the firm.