William D. S. Daniel was born on March 17, 1903 in Urmia, Iran. He completed his primary education in the missionary schools where he studied the Assyrian language. After the First World War, William moved to Hamadan and began studying music. He later went to study in the conservatory of music in Basil, Switzerland where he became an accomplished violinist. While in Europe, he continued to study the Assyrian language and took to translating the French masterpiece "Cyrano de Bergerac" from French to Assyrian.