Lord and Lady Haw Haw: William Joyce and Margaret Joyce

The street sign for Nelson Street, Denton Holme, Carlisle, Cumbria. It was on this street, at Number 63, that Manchester-born Margaret Cairns White (later Joyce) lived between 1915 and 1936.

Margaret White, usually known by those who knew her in Carlisle as Margot, attended the Carlisle County High School for Girls. Her father worked at the nearby Morton Sundour Fabrics textile mill. Margot also worked at the same textile mill for some time. A recent book by Nigel Farndale tells the story of Margaret and her husband William Joyce.

As a young woman, Margot White joined the British Union of Fascists (BUF). She became a regular speaker for the BUF to the crowds of shoppers outside Carlisle Market Hall and in nearby towns and villages. In 1935, Margot was part of a BUF delegation that went to one of the party's rallies at Dumfries and met one of the speakers for the first time. This was the American-born Irishman called William Joyce. This meeting would lead to Margot becoming the second Mrs William Joyce.

In 1939, just before war broke out, William and Margot Joyce travelled to Germany and began making English language propoganda broadcasts for German radio. They became known as 'Lord and Lady Haw Haw' earning a certain notoriety for alleged traitorous statements. Margot's voice was recognised by many people who had known her in and around Carlisle. William Joyce was executed at the end of the war. Margot remarried and passed away in 1972 at the age of 60. Unsurprisingly, there is nothing on Nelson Street at Carlisle - or outside Carlisle Old Town Hall- to commemorate the fact that Margot Joyce (née White) once lived in the city. Many people now living in Carlisle have probably never heard of her, or her husband William Joyce.

Futher reading: Nigel Farndale (2005), 'Haw Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce', Macmillan, London (ISBN 0333 98992 9)

The Carlisle NAAFI in WW2

The photographs on this Second World War postcard are of the NAAFI at Carlisle, Cumberland (now Cumbria). I have been told the Carlisle NAAFI was situated on Botchergate, at that time one of the main north – south thoroughfares through the city centres.

Although I cannot remember this personally, during the years I was a ballroom dancer – in the 1960s and 1970s - my dance teacher had a dance hall studio on Botchergate, Carlisle. So it is a street I remember reasonably well from that era. Looking at the photographs of the Carlisle NAAFI during WW2 there appears to have been an excellent Ballroom as well as a Games Room, Cafeteria, Lounge and a Tavern. It was evidently a good place for servicemen and women to pass a few short hours with friends.

As far as I can make out from these photographs there are Army Navy and Air Force personnel in the photographs. Interestingly, all the gentlemen leading their ladies around the dance floor in the Ballroom photograph appear to be in RAF uniform! I wonder if the ‘boys in blue’ were more of an attraction to the young ladies of that time….?