JOYCE, JOHN (1839-99) was born at St Ives, Cornwall, of Irish extraction. As a boy he went to sea in a fishing smack. In 1854 he emigrated to Victoria with his father (Captain Michael Joyce, 1816-95) who was an officer of the Victorian water police, and he spent three years (also in the water police) at Williamstown. When retrenched out of that service he was in charge of a hooker of 55 tons.

In 1861 he came to New Zealand and was in the water police at Port Chalmers for a while before being appointed clerk of the magistrate's court. Four years later he was articled to Howorth and Hodgkins and, having qualified in law, was admitted to the bar (1873). He practised for a few years in Dunedin (with J. A. D. Adams) and then removed to Canterbury, practising in Christchurch and Lyttelton. He was chairman of the Sydenham school committee and a member of the borough council, and was mayor (1879-81). Intending to establish a deep-sea fishing company, he again settled in Lyttelton and became a member of the borough council in 1885. He was three years a member of the Canterbury education board and for many years superintendent of the Wesleyan Sunday school in Lyttelton.

Joyce entered Parliament in 1887 as member for Lyttelton (supporting the Stout-Vogel party) and was in Parliament continuously till 1899 (for Akaroa 1893-96, Lyttelton 1896-99). He died on 1 Dec 1899. He was an enthusiastic volunteer. In 1883 he raised the Sydenham rifles (of which he was captain), and he was the first major of the Canterbury rifle battalion (1885-91). He married a daughter of G. Coates (Christchurch).

Cycl. N.Z., iii; Russell; Otago Daily Times, 15 Feb 1895; Lyttelton Times, 2 Dec 1899. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 240

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