William Budge was born to William Budge and Mary Scott on May 1, 1828 in Lanark, Lanark County, Scotland. While living in Glasgow, Scotland he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1848. He was called by leaders of his church to serve as a missionary in England. On November 24, 1856, he married Julia Stratford while in England. After serving as an LDS missionary in Europe for more than nine years, he and his family immigrated to Utah in 1860. He lived in Farmington, Utah for three years and took a second wife, Eliza Prichard, on September 9, 1861. In 1864, Brigham Young asked him to go to Providence, Utah to be the local Bishop. On April 5, 1868, Budge took his third and final wife, Ann Hyer. Between his three wives, polygamous William had 36 children over his life span.

In 1870, Brigham Young asked Budge to move to Bear Lake Valley, Idaho. In August of 1877, he became the president of the Bear Lake Stake of the LDS Church. He later served as the president of the European Mission of the LDS Church from 1878 – 1880. While living in Idaho, he served as a member of Territorial Council, voicing complaints both in the territory and to President Grover Cleveland in Washington about the poor treatment of Mormons by members of the territorial government. He was also the editor of the Southern Idaho Independent, a weekly paper published in Paris during the 1880s. For the last thirteen years of his life, he served as the president of the Logan LDS Temple. William Budge died on March 18, 1919 in Logan, Utah.