William Charles Frederick Grover was born on 16th of January , 1903 in Montrouge, Paris, France. His father, Frederick Grover, was English and a horse ( Horse Recruitment ) breeder. William’s mother, Hermance Dagan Grover, was French. When William was eleven, his parents made him to went to England to stay with relatives. After World War I, the family moved to Monte Carlo where William improved a hobby in automobiles. He learned to drive a Rolls Royce and obtained a driver’s license in Monaco. When he was 15, he gained a motorcycle that he worshiped. In 1919 William Orpen, the official artist of the Paris Peace Conference hired Grover to be his chauffeur. During this employment ( Horse Employment ) , he drove both Orpen and his mistress Yvonne Aubicq with whom he became friendly.

In the early 1920′s Grover started in motorcycle racing but he raced under the name of W. Williams to keep his family from discovering. Once more,utilizing the pseudonym w. Williams Grover began entering car matches driving a Bugatti He started in the Grand Prix de Provence and the Monte Carlo Rally. Next,he won the French Grand Prix in 1928 and 1929. Again in 1929, he entered the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix. William came in first in advance of the popular German driver Rudolf Caracciola. In the same year he married Yvonne Aubicq who had since dissolved her relationship with Orpen. Grover-Williams went on to race and in 1931 placed first in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Then he went on to win the Grand Prix de la Baule each year from 1931 to 1933.

When the Nazis invaded and occupied France in World War II, Grover-Williams left for England to took part in the Royal Army Service Corps. Nevertheless,his fluency in both English and French appealed the attraction of the Special Operations Executive, an English intelligence unit that had been formed to organize and aid underground resistance forces in the Nazi occupied countries of Europe. The SOE recruited ( Horse Recruitment ) Grover-Williams and after extensive training he was parachuted into France with orders to set up an underground network code named ‘Chestnut.’ Its mission was to organize a resistance army for utilization in the coming invasion of France and carry out sabotage operations against the Nazis. Grover-Williams’ friends from the racing circuit, Robert Benoist and Jean-Pierre Wimille make him took part in him to aid with setting up the network.