William Joyce

Lore & Background

William Brooke Joyce was born on Herkimer Street in Brooklyn, New York. His father was Michael Francis Joyce, an Irish Catholic from County Mayo, and his mother was Gertrude Emily Brooke, from an Anglican Anglo-Irish family. After his birth, the family returned to Salthill, County Galway, where Joyce attended Coláiste Iognáid, a Jesuit school, from 1915 to 1921. During the Anglo-Irish War, Joyce was allegedly recruited while still in his mid-teens by Captain Patrick William Keating to work as a courier, and was suspected by the IRA of working as an informant for the Black and Tans. The IRA attempted to assassinate him, and Keating arranged for his enlistment into the Worcestershire Regiment, but Joyce was discharged when found underage. He later obtained a first-class honours degree in English from Birkbeck College, London, and developed an interest in fascism. On 22 October 1924, while stewarding a meeting, Joyce was attacked and received a deep razor slash across his right cheek, leaving a permanent scar. While Joyce often said his attackers were Jewish, historian Colin Holmes claimed Joyce's first wife told him it was an Irish woman, though this claim is unsupported by available evidence.

In 1932, Joyce joined the British Union of Fascists under Sir Oswald Mosley and swiftly became a leading speaker. He was promoted to Director of Propaganda in 1934 and later appointed deputy leader. He was instrumental in changing the BUF's name to 'British Union of Fascists and National Socialists' in 1936 and stood as a party candidate in the 1937 London County Council elections. After being sacked from his paid position in 1937, Joyce formed a breakaway organization, the National Socialist League. In late August 1939, shortly before the war, Joyce and his wife Margaret fled to Germany, where he became a naturalized German citizen in 1940. He was recruited for radio announcements and scriptwriting at German radio's English service, making his first broadcast on 6 September 1939. He became the station's best-known propaganda broadcaster, and the nickname 'Lord Haw-Haw' was coined by a Daily Express radio critic.

Reader's Guide

William Joyce's significance lies in his role as the most prominent English-language propagandist for Nazi Germany during the Second World War, broadcasting to British audiences under the nickname Lord Haw-Haw. His case is legally notable because, despite being American-born and later a German citizen, he was convicted of high treason in the United Kingdom based on his possession of a British passport, which he had obtained by misstating his nationality. The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords, and his execution by Albert Pierrepoint on 3 January 1946 made him the most recent person executed for treason in the UK. His legacy is also tied to the British Union of Fascists, where he served as deputy leader and a violent orator, and to the controversy over his scar, which he attributed to Jewish attackers but which historian Colin Holmes, without corroborated evidence, claimed was inflicted by an Irish woman. The dispute over his attackers remains unresolved in the historical record.

Did You Know?

• William Joyce was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was an American citizen at birth.
• He was nicknamed 'Lord Haw-Haw' by a Daily Express radio critic in September 1939.
• Joyce was hanged on 3 January 1946, making him the most recent person executed for treason in the United Kingdom.
• The IRA attempted to assassinate Joyce during the Anglo-Irish War when he was in his mid-teens.