WILSON GODFREY HARVEY was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He left school at the age of sixteen, becoming a clerk in the office of the Charleston News and Courier and manager of the World and Budget –a Charleston newspaper–five years later. In his late twenties he became state manager for Bradstreet Company (later Dun and Bradstreet), and helped to organize Enterprise Bank of Charleston, becoming its president in 1904. He also was a member of the Charleston Board of Aldermen from 1903 to 1911, Mayor Pro Tempore of Charleston in 1910, Chairman of the Sanitary and Drainage Commission of Charleston County from 1916 to 1920, and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 1921 and 1922. As Lieutenant Governor, he succeeded to the governorship upon the resignation of Robert Cooper, who had been appointed to the Federal Farm Loan board in Washington, DC. In his short time as governor, Harvey encouraged the construction of concrete highways and introduced higher standards of education into the school system. After leaving office, he retired from politics and became the state manager for a number of insurance companies, first in South Carolina and later in Florida, where he died.