William Joyce
Surname | Joyce |
Given Name | William |
Born | 24 Apr 1906 |
Died | 3 Jan 1946 |
Country | United States, Germany |
Category | Other |
Gender | Male |
Contributor: Alan Chanter
ww2dbaseThough spending the first 15 years of his life in New York in the United States, William Brooke Joyce moved to Ireland where he became involved with Irish nationalists. Later he came to England, United Kingdom where he was soon involved as Propaganda Director in Oswald Moseley's British Union of Fascists. At the outbreak of World War II he fled with his wife to Germany where, in September 1939, he commenced broadcasting his "Germany calling" programme on Radio Hamburg. His propaganda broadcasts had a considerable effect on the British audience - By 1940 30 per cent of the British population would be regularly tuning in for his programme. It contained a mixture of weak fact and unbelievable fiction, presented in a "BBC voice" to add to a sense of reality that earned him the name of "Lord Haw-Haw". He used liberal amounts of humour, lashing off ridicule and dire tales of terror and danger; his messages, for all their wretchedness, were infuriatingly fascinating.
ww2dbaseDuring the war, he was granted German citizenship.
ww2dbaseIn 1945 Joyce was arrested by the British at the end of the war and charged with High Treason at the Central Criminal Court. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. His appeal on the basis of his being a US citizen was annulled by the fact that he had chosen to carry a British passport at the start of the war. He was hanged on 3 January 1946 at Wandsworth Prison in London - the last person to be executed for High treason in the United Kingdom.
ww2dbaseSource: Edward Davidson and Dale Manning: World War Two - The Personalities (Arms and Armour Press 1997)
Last Major Revision: Feb 2023
William Joyce Interactive Map
Photographs
William Joyce Timeline
24 Apr 1906 | William Joyce was born in New York, New York, United States. |
11 Sep 1939 | "Lord Haw-Haw", began broadcasting his "Germany calling" programme on Radio Hamburg. The name was eventually linked to William Joyce, a US citizen who had spent some time in Ireland, had been Propaganda Director of Oswald Moseley's (qv) British Union of Fascists and who had fled to Berlin a week before the outbreak of war. By 1940 30 per cent of the British population would be regularly tuning in to Radio Hamburg for his programme. |
23 Dec 1940 | Propagandist William Joyce, "Lord Haw-Haw", warned of a second night of bombing for Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Overnight, from 1915 until 0129 hours the next day, 171 German aircraft attacked the still-burning Manchester with 195 tons of high explosive bombs and 893 incendiary bombs. In two nights, 363 civilians were killed and 1,183 were wounded. |
30 Apr 1945 | William Joyce's "Germany Calling" radio program ceased broadcasting as British Army troops closed in on the radio station facilities in Hamburg, Germany. |
28 May 1945 | William Joyce, whose radio broadcasts to Britain during the war had earned him the nickname "Lord Haw-Haw", was captured by British troops. |
19 Sep 1945 | Lord Haw-Haw, William Joyce, was sentenced to death in Britain for treason. |
1 Nov 1945 | William Joyce's treason conviction was upheld by the British Court of Appeal. |
13 Dec 1945 | William Joyce's treason conviction was upheld by Lords William Jowitt, Hugh Macmillan, Robert Wright, Gavin Simonds, and Samuel Porter of the British House of Lords, with Porter dissenting. |
3 Jan 1946 | William Joyce was executed by hanging at the Wandsworth Prison in London, England, United Kingdom. |
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