He was born in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, on April 1, 1844, and was educated in the grammar school of his native country. At the age of 18, he decided to come to this colony.
He commenced business in Dunedin in 1869, then six years later came to Masterton where he built up a large nursery and orchard business.
In 1884 he came to the district at Mangahao, his holding contained 180 acres and the main portion of it was set apart as a stud sheep farm. Pahiatua owes not only its name but its very existence, to Mr McCardle.
He began to agitate for land reforms and is credited with having powerfully influenced the passing of the Land Act 1877 and its amendments of 1879.
As a member of the Wairarapa North County Council, Mr McCardle represented the Alfredton riding and got the county of Pahiatua formed into a separate riding - christening it "Pahiatua." His next move was to get the riding placed under the control of a Road Board, his efforts being gracefully acknowledged by his election to the position of the first chairman.
Having progressed so far, the next step was to form the county, when Mr McCardle had the satisfaction of seeing fairly launched the scheme of special settlements which he had so consistently advocated and so successfully helped forward.
So long ago as May 1876, Mr McCardle explored the country to form the county of Pahiatua - then all dense bush, but now covered with smiling farms and prosperous runs.
Even then, as a member of the Wellington Waste Lands Board, he did all in his power to bring about the immediate settlement of the country he had explored.
He introduced an association of some 200 members, prepared to join in a special settlement scheme "on all fours" with the Acts subsequently passed in 1877 and 1879.
Though a leader in all his work of settlement, Mr McCardle did not actually settle himself in Pahiatua until 1884, when he took up land and laid off the township.
When the township of Pahiatua was laid off, there was no scarcity of croakers who said a town could never grow up there; but Mr McCardle held a different opinion - an opinion of which he soon had reason to be proud.
He was appointed the first Justice of the Peace in the district.
Mr McCardle continued his agitation in connection with the Masterton Special Settlements Association until the block known as Ballance was secured and disposed of.
Some years after he had left Pahiatua in 1893, the presentation of a silver tea service was made to his wife at a large and representative gathering in the Olympic Theatre on Tuesday, April 9, 1907.
This was to honour the appointment of Mr McCardle to the Legislative Council.
The first settler in Pahiatua, Mr John Hall, arrived in the district on the evening of February 28, 1881, and was followed on the morning of the next day by Mr John Hughes, who may therefore fairly claim to be a twin brother of Mr Hall's in the cause of "Pahiatua pioneering."
The decision by the Tararua District Council to rename Slaughterhouse Road in honour of the owner of the slaughterhouse, William Wilson McCardle junior, would have delighted the members of the McCardle family, many of whom feel Pahiatua has been remiss in not previously honouring its founding family."
