Skip to main content

Joyce Manuscripts

 Fonds
Reference code: 166

Scope and Contents

A collection of documents related to William Joyce and Cecil Courtney Lewis, including material collected by Lewis relating to the British Union of Fascists (BUF).

The collection appears to have belonged to C.C. Lewis, a solicitor who acted as Oswald Mosley's legal adviser, and is noteworthy in that it contains five letters to Lewis in the hand of William Joyce. It also includes extensive annotations to Lewis' manuscript exercises on matters of current political interest, also by Joyce, from the years 1932-1933 when Lewis took a course run by the Institute of Political Secretaries, London, where 'Professor' Joyce was a tutor.

The collection also contains early copies of The Blackshirt, the official newspaper of the BUF, which was edited by Lewis, and photographs of eminent members of the BUF. In addition, the collection includes a photograph of Joyce shortly after his capture by British troops in 1945.

Dates

  • Creation: 1930s - 1960s

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Available by appointment

Biographical / Historical

William Joyce (1906-1946) was born in Brooklyn, New York and was thereby an American citizen, although his father was born in Ireland and his mother in England. His father became a naturalised American citizen in 1894. In 1909 the family moved to Ireland. In December 1921 William Joyce came to England, followed shortly after by his parents, where he entered London University, being awarded a first-class honours degree in 1927. In 1922 he joined the OTC of the University, falsely claiming to be of pure British descent and a British citizen. From 1923 to 1925 he was a member of the British Fascists. In 1933 he applied for, and was granted, a British passport, claiming to have been born in Galway. From 1933 to 1937 he was a member of the British Union of Fascists, but during a financial crisis he and others were dismissed by Oswald Mosley, a move which Joyce resented bitterly. Joyce then left the BUF and founded his own organisation, the National Socialist League (NSL). A renewal of his passport was granted on 24th August 1939, and three days later he dissolved the NSL, leaving with his wife at some point prior to the outbreak of war to Germany. A fortnight later he began the propaganda broadcasts on behalf of the Nazis which led ultimately to his trial for treason.

His broadcasts, and the distinctive voice in which they were made, led to his being known as Lord Haw-Haw by the British population, at whose morale they were aimed. At the end of the war, on the 28th May 1945, he was shot in the leg in an encounter with two British officers near Flensburg on the Danish border with Germany. Although not in fact a British subject he was brought to trial in England charged with high treason, and was convicted on the debatable grounds that by carrying a British passport he thereby owed allegiance to the British Crown. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Despite two appeals the verdict was upheld by the House of Lords and execution by hanging was carried out on 3rd January 1946.

Cecil Courtney Lewis, a former Indian Army officer who retained use of the title 'Captain', was the original editor of The Blackshirt. He was a solicitor, who acted as Oswald Mosley's legal adviser, and the author of two books. His Fascist convictions were acquired during a lengthy stay in Italy, and he accompanied Mosley on the latter's second visit to Rome in 1933 where the British party of fascists were welcomed by Mussolini. In 1932 Lewis took a course run by the Institute of Political Secretaries, London, where 'Professor' Joyce was a tutor. Lewis remained in the BUF until 1937, the year Joyce left the party.

Extent

1 Box(es)

Language of Materials

English

Custodial History

Purchased in 1992

Author
Originally catalogue by Lawrence Aspen. Revised by Mariam Yamin, 2022.
Date
Revised February 2022
Description rules
International Standard for Archival Description - General
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299