William Herbert Carruth was born April 5, 1859 near Osawatomie, Kansas to James H. and Jane (Grant) Carruth. His father had served as a missionary in the Presbyterian Church.

W. H. Carruth attended the University of Kansas, graduating with a bachelors in 1880. The fall of that year he began teaching at KU in modern languages and literature. He would continue teaching at KU, in 1882 being elected professor of modern languages and in 1884 heading up the German department, formed after a split between French and German in the modern languages department.

Carruth earned a masters from KU and also studied at Harvard University, earning another masters and his doctorate. He was a district vice-president of the American Dialect Society, helped organize and was president of the Central States Modern Language Conference, and served as president of the Kansas Academy of Language and Literature.

In addition to his studies in German, Carruth wrote on women's suffrage in Kansas with Franklin G. Adams, as well as publishing a book of poetry and two volumes on Kansas in literature. He held positions as a director of the Kansas State Historical Society, on the executive committee of the State Temperance Union, and was secretary of the Lawrence Civil Service Reform Club, in addition to serving on the Lawrence board of education.

Carruth continued teaching at KU until 1913, when he left to teach at Stanford University as a professor of comparative literature. He was married first to Frances Schlegal (1854-1908) in 1882. After her death, he married Katherine Kent Morton (1876-1973) in 1910. William H. Carruth died December 15, 1924.