William Grover-Williams

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Grover-Williams at the 1931 Belgian Grand Prix
Williams after his victory in France in 1929

William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams (* 16th January 1903 in Montrouge , † 18th March 1945 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp ) was a British - French racing driver and SOE - Spy . As a racing driver, he often used the pseudonym W. Williams .

biography

William Grover-Williams was born in Montrouge near Paris to the British horse breeder Frederick and the French Hermance Grover ( née Dagan). He grew up with his siblings, an older sister (* 1897), a younger brother and a younger sister, bilingually ( French and English ).

At the age of eleven, Grover-Williams was sent to Hertfordshire in the UK to live with relatives to escape World War I. After the war he moved to Monte Carlo with his parents . Grover-Williams developed his fascination for automobiles there . He learned to drive at the wheel of a Rolls-Royce that belonged to his sister's friend. In 1919 Grover-Williams became the chauffeur for the painter William Orpen . After Orpen's relationship with his lover Yvonne Aupicq had failed, Grover-Williams married the woman in 1929 and moved with her to Paris.

Racing career

Grover-Williams was the first motorcycle to get an Indian on his 15th birthday and took part in motorcycle races in the early 1920s . In order to hide his racing activities from his family, he gave himself the pseudonym W. Williams. A little later he drove a Bugatti car race across Europe. In 1928 Grover-Williams won the French Grand Prix , which he also won the following year . In the same year he also won the first Monaco Grand Prix in history. In 1931 he won the Belgian Grand Prix and the Grand Prix de La Baule together with Caberto Conelli . He was able to win the latter again in the next two years.

Second World War

With the beginning of the Second World War , the era of racing ended temporarily. After the occupation of France by the Wehrmacht , Grover-Williams fled to the United Kingdom. Because of his knowledge of French and English, he was appointed to the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Together with his former racing driver colleague Robert Benoist , he worked on setting up a Paris spy cell.

On August 2, 1943, Grover-Williams was arrested by the Security Service (SD) and, after long interrogations, brought to Berlin. From here he came to Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where he was executed on March 18, 1945 .

Afterlife

A statue was erected in his honor in Monaco.

Web links

Commons : William Grover-Williams  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ findagrave.com: Charles Frederick William Grover-Williams
  2. ^ Scotsman.com: Formula One: Uncovering the mystery of William Grover-Williams
  3. ↑ forix.com: A different danger - three champions at war
  4. ↑ espnf1.com: William Grover-Williams
  5. ↑ speedweek.com: Unique Monaco: 10 stories about the Grand Prix classic
personal data
SURNAME Grover-Williams, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grover-Williams, William Charles Frederick; Williams, W. (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-French racing driver
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Montrouge
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1945
Place of death Sachsenhausen concentration camp