The son of Arthur John Pearce, the headmaster of the Bendigo Grammar School, and Lena Margaret Pearce, née Mueller, he was born at Sandhurst on 28 January 1885. He was educated at Bendigo Grammar School, and was employed in a well-paid position in the Australian Mutual Provident Society, firstly in Bendigo, and then in Melbourne. Once he had moved to Melbourne he became very involved in the community of the Anglican Holy Trinity Church, in East Melbourne; he was Church Treasurer, the Sunday School Superintendent, the Secretary of the Church of England Men's Society, and a member of the church choir. His cousin, Jack Mueller, played 216 senior VFL games for Melbourne from 1934 to 1950.
Footballer
Recruited from the South Bendigo Football Club in 1904, he played as a strict amateur, and even refused to accept out of pocket expenses. He played his first senior game for Melbourne, aged 19, against Collingwood, at the MCG, on Saturday, 14 May 1904. Pearce played well in a Melbourne team that lost by 6 points to Collingwood. He played his last senior match for Melbourne against Essendon, on the MCG, on Saturday, 30 August 1913. Essendon won by 10 points, 6.16 to 6.6, and Pearce was one of the best players in a losing team. A specialist full-back, Pearce was a regular player for Melbourne from 1904 to 1913, and was noted for "clear his goal with a dash which took the ball past the centre", playing 152 games, and represented Victoria at the 1908 Melbourne Carnival. In 1922, champion full-forward Dick Lee, who played for Collingwood from 1906 to 1922, told a reporter that he thought that Pearce was, by far, the best full-back of his day; and only matched in that time by the current Richmond full-back Vic Thorp.
Sportsman
He played sub-district cricket with Coburg, and also played with the Melbourne Cricket Club's Club XI's. He was also good at lawn tennis, and at lacrosse.
Soldier
Leaving his lucrative employment as a clerk with the Australian Mutual Provident Society, he enlisted in the First AIF on 17 August 1914 ; he was immediate given the rank of Lance-Corporal, and was promoted to Corporal on 6 April 1915.
Death
He was killed in action with the 7th Battalion, whilst taking part in the landings at Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey on 25 April 1915. He was shot before his boat could reach the beach.
Remembered
He was buried at No 2 Outpost Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey, and his name is located name is located at panel 51 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial. A bronze memorial plaque was erected at the Holy Trinity Church, East Melbourne. On Saturday, 12 June 1915, playing against Essendon, "the Melbourne players wore black armbands, as a token of respect for a former comrade, Lance-Corporal Pearce, a well-known back man of a few seasons ago, who was killed in action at the Dardanelles". As a devoted church-man, Joe Pearce would have been pleased to know that he was the subject of a sermon, "Football, the Game and the Barracker", delivered by Rev. Ernest George Petherick at the Horsham Presbyterian Church on Sunday, 12 September 1926. His sister Ethel, and a "F.W. Hastings" each inserted an "In Memoriam" notice in the newspaper, every year, at least until 1956.
