Charles Henry Hardin (July 15, 1820 – July 29, 1892) was an American attorney and politician who was Governor of Missouri served in the Missouri Senate and the Missouri House of Representatives. He founded Hardin College and was one of the eight founders of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Also in 1820, his family moved to Missouri and eventually settled in Columbia, Missouri. Following his father's death in 1830, Hardin worked in the family's tannery business.
Hardin began his secondary education in 1837 at the Indiana University Bloomington.