William Dear was a watchmaker originally from Skerries, Ireland. He became entangled with the God-Machine, as did his descendant Jon Dear. William served in the Boer War in South Africa, and this experience led him to beg his brother Alexander not to enlist in World War One. Heartbroken by Alexander's death in 1915, William turned to a recurring project of his: he built an elaborate clockwork woman from brass and leather, as perfect and lifelike as he could make her. Unfortuantely, the one thing he could not figure out was how to create a brain that would allow her to truly come alive.