William Joyce
William Joyce | |
|---|---|
Joyce shortly after capture, 1945 | |
| Born | 24 April 1906 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | 3 January 1946 (aged 39) Wandsworth Prison, London, England |
| Resting place | Bohermore Cemetery, Galway, Ireland 53°16′37″N 9°01′49″W / 53.27692°N 9.03025°W |
| Other names | Lord Haw-Haw |
| Citizenship |
|
| Education | Birkbeck College, London |
| Known for | Broadcasting German propaganda in World War II |
| Political party | British Fascists British Union of Fascists National Socialist League |
| Criminal status | Executed by hanging |
| Children | 2 |
| Conviction | High treason |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, Joyce became a member of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) from 1932, before finally moving to Germany at the outset of the war where he took Nazi German citizenship in 1940.
After his capture, Joyce, who had been issued a British passport when he lived in England after misstating his nationality, was convicted in the United Kingdom of high treason in 1945 and sentenced to death. The Court of Appeal and the House of Lords both upheld his conviction. He was hanged in Wandsworth Prison by Albert Pierrepoint on 3 January 1946, making him the last person to be executed for treason in the United Kingdom.