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George Joyce
Lieutenant-Colonel George Joyce (born 1618) was an officer and Agitator in the Parliamentary New Model Army during the English Civil War.
Between 2 and 5 June 1647, while the New Model Army was assembling for rendezvous at the behest of the recently formed Army Council, Joyce seized King Charles I from Parliament's custody at Holdenby House and took him to Thomas Fairfax's headquarters on Triploe Heath (8 miles south of Cambridge), a move that weakened Parliament's position and strengthened the Army's.
Before joining the army, Joyce worked as a tailor in London. According to royalist historian the Earl of Clarendon in his work, 'The History of the Rebellion', Joyce at one point, "served in a very inferior Employment in Mr. Holles's House."
By 1644, Joyce had enlisted in the Army of the Eastern Association and was serving in Oliver Cromwell's cavalry regiment, nicknamed the 'Ironsides'. By 1647, he was commissioned as a cornet in Sir Thomas Fairfax's lifeguard. Fairfax would later describe Joyce as an "Arch-Agitator."
In 1647, after the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Parliament ordered the New Model Army to disband without full payment of their arrears. In response to this threat, Joyce led a troop of 500 men to take control of Charles I from where he was held in Parliamentary custody at Holdenby House. The plan was possibly formulated by a council of elected representatives of the army, known as 'Agitators,' however Joyce may have also received approval from Cromwell after visiting his house on Drury Lane on May 31. Cromwell later admitted authorising Joyce to secure the King at Holdenby, but denied giving him orders to move him.
On June 2, Joyce successfully occupied Holdenby. He soon received word that Colonel Graves, who had been in command of the regiment that was previously guarding the King, had fled the house. Fearful that Graves would return with a superior force and take the King back into Parliament's control, Joyce made the decision to move Charles to Newmarket, where the New Model Army had set up headquarters.
Armed with a pistol, he entered the King's bedchamber in the middle of the night on June 3, and told him that he must leave with his troop the next morning. As they were about to depart, Charles asked to know by what commission Joyce had been authorised to remove him. In reply, Joyce was said to have simply gestured to the 500 troopers who stood behind him.
Fairfax denied any prior knowledge of Joyce's actions and wanted to have him court-martialled. However, Cromwell and Henry Ireton not only interceded on his behalf, but promised him promotion. Eventually Fairfax would come to appreciate Joyce's decision. Concerning his arrest of the King, Joyce reported in a letter:
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George Joyce
Lieutenant-Colonel George Joyce (born 1618) was an officer and Agitator in the Parliamentary New Model Army during the English Civil War.
Between 2 and 5 June 1647, while the New Model Army was assembling for rendezvous at the behest of the recently formed Army Council, Joyce seized King Charles I from Parliament's custody at Holdenby House and took him to Thomas Fairfax's headquarters on Triploe Heath (8 miles south of Cambridge), a move that weakened Parliament's position and strengthened the Army's.
Before joining the army, Joyce worked as a tailor in London. According to royalist historian the Earl of Clarendon in his work, 'The History of the Rebellion', Joyce at one point, "served in a very inferior Employment in Mr. Holles's House."
By 1644, Joyce had enlisted in the Army of the Eastern Association and was serving in Oliver Cromwell's cavalry regiment, nicknamed the 'Ironsides'. By 1647, he was commissioned as a cornet in Sir Thomas Fairfax's lifeguard. Fairfax would later describe Joyce as an "Arch-Agitator."
In 1647, after the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Parliament ordered the New Model Army to disband without full payment of their arrears. In response to this threat, Joyce led a troop of 500 men to take control of Charles I from where he was held in Parliamentary custody at Holdenby House. The plan was possibly formulated by a council of elected representatives of the army, known as 'Agitators,' however Joyce may have also received approval from Cromwell after visiting his house on Drury Lane on May 31. Cromwell later admitted authorising Joyce to secure the King at Holdenby, but denied giving him orders to move him.
On June 2, Joyce successfully occupied Holdenby. He soon received word that Colonel Graves, who had been in command of the regiment that was previously guarding the King, had fled the house. Fearful that Graves would return with a superior force and take the King back into Parliament's control, Joyce made the decision to move Charles to Newmarket, where the New Model Army had set up headquarters.
Armed with a pistol, he entered the King's bedchamber in the middle of the night on June 3, and told him that he must leave with his troop the next morning. As they were about to depart, Charles asked to know by what commission Joyce had been authorised to remove him. In reply, Joyce was said to have simply gestured to the 500 troopers who stood behind him.
Fairfax denied any prior knowledge of Joyce's actions and wanted to have him court-martialled. However, Cromwell and Henry Ireton not only interceded on his behalf, but promised him promotion. Eventually Fairfax would come to appreciate Joyce's decision. Concerning his arrest of the King, Joyce reported in a letter: