William Grover-Williams

William Grover-Williams

William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams (born William Charles Frederick Grover, 16 January 1903 – February or March 1945), also known as "W Williams", was a Grand Prix motor racing driver and special agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) inside France. He organized and coordinated the Chestnut network. He was captured and killed by the Nazis.

Born to an English father and a French mother in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine, Grover-Williams grew up fluent in both the French and English languages. After World War I, his family moved to Monaco where he got a job as a chauffeur. Mechanically inclined, and fascinated by motorized vehicles, Charles Frederick William Grover-Williams bought a motorcycle and began racing. Returning to Paris, in 1919 he worked as the chauffeur for the famous Irish war artist, Sir William Orpen.