Christopher Child was born in Tavistock, Devon, on 22 December 1953. He attended state schools in Tavistock, Dunstable and Luton and then studied politics at the University of Durham from 1972 to 1976.

Christopher Child worked on Neil Kinnock's campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party and, from 1983 to 1992, as a staff member in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, with responsibility throughout this period for Mr Kinnock's work on international development and Africa, especially Southern Africa. Until 1987 he was also responsible for Mr Kinnock's Correspondence Unit and from 1987 to 1992 for the preparation of briefings for Mr Kinnock's visits in the UK, including during the General Election campaigns of 1987 and 1992. Before his time with Mr Kinnock Christopher worked for the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, from 1976 to 1982 as Trade Union Secretary and towards the end of that period as Deputy Secretary. In 1993 he worked for the HIV-AIDs charity CRUSAID and from 1994 to 2006 in the Political Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, where he was responsible for activities to strengthen democracy in member states. During 2007 Christopher worked for the UK non-governmental organisation WarChild and from 2008 until 2014 as Senior Professional Officer at Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS), a UK not-for-profit non-governmental organisation which worked with local partners to strengthen democratic institutions, processes and culture around the world. He retired in February 2014.