 He was raised in the Parkhead area of Glasgow; the brothers John Cairney (actor and writer) and Jim Cairney (footballer with York City) were childhood acquaintances.An engineer by profession, Wharton took up refereeing at the age of 21 and had reached Class I status within 3 years.He refereed a number of important and high-profile games during his career, including the Scottish Cup finals of 1961-62, 1962-63, 1965-66 and 1970-71, and the League Cup finals of 1960-61, 1962–63, 1966-67 and 1970-71.