George Joyce

Lieutenant-Colonel George Joyce (born 1618) was an officer and Agitator in the Parliamentary New Model Army during the English Civil War.

"[9] 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.

[8] In response to this threat, Joyce was tasked with leading a troop of 500 men to take control of Charles I from where he was held in Parliamentary custody at Holdenby House.

[10] The plan was possibly formulated by a council of elected representatives of the army, known as 'Agitators,'[4] however Joyce also seemingly received tacit approval from Cromwell after visiting his house on Drury Lane on Mary 31.

[4] 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.

[7] According to an account by Sir John Berkley, in 1648, Joyce expressed the view that the King should be brought to trial, so that the parliamentary side "might not bear the blame of the war.

[7] On 17 June 1650, Joyce was appointed governor of the Isle of Portland, in the August he was given a commission as lieutenant-colonel in a regiment raised by Colonel James Heane.

[21] In 1670, Charles II sent Sir William Temple to Rotterdam to extradite Joyce to England, however Dutch authorities allowed him to escape.