William Grover-Williams

William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams (born William Charles Frederick Grover, 16 January 1903 – 18 March 1945 (or shortly thereafter)), also known as "W Williams", was a British Grand Prix motor racing driver. He is best known for winning the first Monaco Grand Prix.

During World War II, Grover-Williams, code named Sebastian, worked as an agent in France for the clandestine British Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization. SOE's objectives were to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially those occupied by Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with French resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment. Grover-Williams created, coordinated, and led the SOE's Chestnut network which worked near Paris. The Chestnut network organised parachute drops of weapons and equipment from SOE and stockpiled them for the use of the resistance. The German Sicherheitsdienst (SD) captured Grover-Williams in August 1943. He was imprisoned and executed in March 1945.

Grover-Williams was born in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 16 January 1903 to Frederick and Hermance Grover. Frederick Grover was an English horse breeder who had settled in Montrouge. Frederick met a French woman, Hermance Dagan, and they were soon married. Their first child was Elizabeth, born in 1897. William had two other siblings – Alice and Frédéric. Born to an English father and a French mother, Grover-Williams grew up fluent in both French and English.

When William was eleven, during World War I, his parents sent him to live with relatives in Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom. After the war, Frederick Grover moved the family to Monte Carlo. It was there that William developed a fascination for automobiles, having been taught to drive a Rolls-Royce by his sister's boyfriend. Grover-Williams passed his driving test while in Monaco and was granted a licence. Mechanically inclined and fascinated by motorised vehicles, at the age of 15 Grover-Williams acquired an Indian motorcycle and it became his pride and joy. He would later compete in motorcycle races in the early 1920s, although he kept it secret from his family by adopting the pseudonym, "W Williams".

In 1919, the Irish portrait painter, William Orpen became the official artist of the Paris Peace Conference. Orpen bought a Rolls-Royce car and hired Grover-Williams, who had returned to Paris, as his chauffeur. At the time, Orpen had a mistress and model named Yvonne Aupicq. Aupicq and Grover-Williams became good friends and, after the collapse of Aupicq's relationship with Orpen, the pair married in November 1929. She was six years older than him.

By 1926, Grover-Williams had begun racing a Bugatti in races throughout France, using the alias, "W Williams", entering the Grand Prix de Provence at Miramas and the Monte Carlo Rally. In 1928, he won the French Grand Prix, repeating in 1929. That same year, driving a Bugatti 35B, painted in what would become known as "British racing green", he won the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix beating the heavily favoured Mercedes of the German driver, Rudolf Caracciola.

Successful financially, Grover-Williams and his wife maintained a home in a fashionable district of Paris while owning a large house in the resort town of La Baule, Pays de la Loire, on the Bay of Biscay, which was home to one of the annual Grand Prix races. In 1931, he won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. He also won the Grand Prix de la Baule in three consecutive years (1931 to 1933). He retired from racing in 1933.

On 28 February 1940, Grover-Williams enlisted in the British Royal Army Service Corps and worked as a driver in France. In June 1940, he was evacuated from Dunkirk to England after the victory by Nazi Germany in the Battle of France. Due to his fluency in both French and English, he was recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in autumn 1940. SOE trained him to be an agent and promoted him from private to second lieutenant. On 29 May 1942, Grover-Williams and another SOE agent, Christopher Burney, parachuted "blind" (with no reception committee on the ground) into France near Le Mans. Grover-Williams proceeded to Paris where he reunited with his wife, Yvonne, but, for security reasons, he found himself a different place to live and work. Grover-Williams' work name with SOE was "Sebastian." His task for SOE was to create a "sleeper" cell called Chestnut which would prepare to take action against the German occupiers when ordered to do so by SOE.