William McCarthy was born in England in 1925. He attended Ruskin College, Oxford, as a sponsored representative of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers is a trade union in the United Kingdom. He then achieved a first class honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford and a Doctorate of Philosophy at Nuffield College, Oxford.
In 1965, McCarthy was appointed research director of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations and worked as an industrial relations adviser and arbitrator. He wrote almost one a book year for thirty years and was created a life peer in 1976.
McCarthy delivered the Beatty Lecture on September 19, 1984, titled "The Limits of Trade Union Power".
