Samuel Gosnell Green was born on December 20, 1822, in Falmouth, Cornwall, England.

He was an English Baptist minister, educator, author, and bibliophile. He was educated at a private school in Camberwell. After leaving school, he worked in the printing office of John Haddon in Finsbury and then as a tutor until the age of nineteen. He attended the Baptist College, Stepney to prepare for the Baptist ministry and graduated from the University of London (B.A., 1843). He served two churches, High Wycombe (1845–1847) and Taunton (1847–1851), before taking a position at the Yorkshire Baptist College, Rawdon as a tutor in classics (1851–1863). In 1863, Green became principal at the college, serving until 1876. In 1876, he came to London to work as an editor, and in 1881, as editorial secretary, of the Religious Tract Society. He was the author of eighteen books, his most important "Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek Testament", published in 1870 and followed by numerous revised editions. In 1900, the University of St. Andrews bestowed upon him the honorary degree of D.D.

In 1848, he married Elizabeth Leader Collier (1825–1905). He died on September 15, 1905, in Streatham, Surrey, England.