Green was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the son of Charles Green, ironfounder, and his wife Eliza (née Vaughan). After his father became a partner in a Mackay foundry in 1881, he was educated at Mackay State School and completed his schooling at the Way Methodist College in Adelaide. He was apprenticed in 1896 to Townsville pharmacist, Cromwell Ridgley before attending the Queensland College of Pharmacy in Brisbane in 1901. He then returned to Townsville and bought Ridgley's business and by 1914 owned four chemists. By 1920 W. H. Green Ltd owned eight chemists across Northern Queensland and eventually the company controlled sixteen pharmacies but the Pharmacy Act of 1933 requiring professional managers forced the company to disband.[2]
On 29 October 1903 in Townsville Green married Clara Cockerill in Townsville and together had two sons and three daughters. Clara died in 1930[3] and three years later he married Clara's sister, Frances Gertude Cockerill (died 1939)[3] in Brisbane. His final marriage was to Georgina Singleton on 4 October 1948 in Glasgow while on a visit to Scotland. He died in Brisbane in March 1968 and was buried in the Toowong Cemetery.[4]
Like his father, Green was a Methodist lay-preacher for over 55 years and the superintendent of a Sunday school for thirty-five years. He was also the treasurer of the Methodist King's College at the University of Queensland for 25 years and a foundation member and president of the interdenominational Queensland Council of Churches. He was a lifelong supporter of the temperance movement. In 1940 was the treasurer of the Queensland Temperance League and in 1965 was its chairman and represented Australia at international temperance conferences.[2]
Green was also a Freemason, joining in 1905 and went on to become the district grand master of North Queensland in 1922 and state grand master in 1929-30 and 1932–33. In 1931 and 1935-45 he was pro-grand master under the governor. He was appointed O.B.E. in 1958 for his numerous church projects, charitable works and donations.[2] On 10 December 1930 as Most Worshipful Grand Master he opened and dedicated the new Masonic Temple in Brisbane.[7]
^"COUNTRY". The Brisbane Courier. No. 20, 376. Queensland, Australia. 14 May 1923. p. 7. Retrieved 18 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"STATE ELECTIONS". The Brisbane Courier. No. 21, 306. Queensland, Australia. 10 May 1926. p. 11. Retrieved 18 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"INSPIRING SCENE". The Brisbane Courier. No. 22, 737. Queensland, Australia. 11 December 1930. p. 18. Retrieved 27 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
