William Henry Pope was born on May 29, 1825, in Bedeque, Prince County, Prince Edward Island, the brother of James Colledge Pope (1826-1885), a P. E. I. businessman and premier.

He was a lawyer, politician, journalist, judge, land agent, and one of the Fathers of Confederation. He studied law in London in the Inner Temple and was admitted to the bar in 1847. He returned home and became a land agent. From 1859 to 1872, he served as the editor of the Islander, P. E. I.’s main Conservative Party newspaper. In 1859, he was appointed colonial secretary, even though he was not a part of the legislature. In 1863, he entered politics as a representative for the constituency of Belfast. An enthusiastic supporter of the Canadian Confederation, he was one of the hosts of the Charlottetown Conference, and he attended the Quebec conference in 1864. He resigned as executive councillor and colonial secretary in 1866. In 1873, after the Island entered the Dominion of Canada, Pope was appointed Prince County Court judge. Before his death, he had begun research in England for a projected history of the Island. In London, he was elected three times (1863, 1866, and 1870) to the ranks of the Athenaeum Club as one of its 15 honorary non-British members.

In 1851, he married Helen Desbrisay (1823–1905). He died on October 7, 1879, in St. Eleanors, Prince County, Prince Edward Island.