W.G. Finley was born at York, the son of Congressman David E. Finley and Elizabeth Gist Finley. He was educated at The Citadel and received a J.D. from the Georgetown University School of Law in 1921.
He served as the York County Attorney for three years and as Solicitor of the Sixth Judicial Circuit from 1930 until 1950. He was President of the York County Bar Association, Vice-President of the South Carolina Bar Association in 1936 and 1953, and was active in the American Bar Association. His private clients included textile mills, insurance companies, railroads and oil companies.
He served on the South Carolina Educational Finance Commission, the Board of Visitors of Clemson University and as a Trustee of Erskine College. He served as Chairman of the Board of Deacons and of the Building Committee, and also as an Elder of the York A.R.P. Church. He was a World War I veteran, Commander of American Legion Post 66, a member of “40 and 8”, the Masons, the Elks and the Crustbreakers Club.
He was an avid fox hunter, serving as Director of the National Fox Hunter’s Association, President of the South Carolina Fox Hunter’s Association, and as founder and President of the United States Open Fox Hunter’s Association.
Friendly, outspoken, compassionate, with a fine sense of humor, he was always fair. He accorded all their rights to those persons charged with crimes.