Reginald Dyer

Infobox Person
name = Reginald Dyer


caption = Reginald Dyer : "The Butcher of Amritsar" by Nigel Collett
birth_date = 1864
birth_place = Murree, British India
death_date = 1927
death_place = Long Ashton, Bristol
other_names =
known_for =
occupation =
relatives =
spouse =
website =
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Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer CB (October 9 1864 – July 23 1927) was a British Indian Army officer responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Early life and assignments

Dyer was born in Murree, in British India, now in Pakistan. He spent his childhood in Shimla and received his early education at the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. He was born in the shadow of the Sepoy Mutiny, which created an atmosphere of segregation, suspicion and fear, and which had a lasting impact on Dyer's life. He attended Midleton College, Co. Cork between 1875 and 1881. In 1885, following attendance at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst he was commissioned into the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) as a Lieutenant, [LondonGazette|issue=25506|startpage=4082|date=28 August 1885|accessdate=2008-01-04] and served in riot control duties in Belfast (1886) and the Third Burmese War (1886–87). He was then transferred to the Indian Army, initially joining the Bengal Staff Corps as a Lieutenant in 1887 [LondonGazette|issue=25766|startpage=6940|date=13 December 1887|accessdate=2008-01-04] [LondonGazette|issue=25883|startpage=7141|date=14 December 1888|accessdate=2008-01-04] and being attached to the 39th Bengal Infantry, later transferring to 29th Punjabis. He served in the latter in the Black Mountain campaign (1888), the relief of Chitral (1895) (being promoted Captain in 1896) [LondonGazette|issue=26795|startpage=6276|date=17 November 1896|accessdate=2008-01-04] and the Mahsud blockade (1901–02). In 1901 he was appointed a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General. [LondonGazette|issue=27362|startpage=6489|date=4 October 1901|accessdate=2008-01-04] He was then transferred to 25th Punjabis where he served in the Zakha Khel Expedition (1908). He commanded the 25th Punjabis in India and Hong Kong and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1910. [LondonGazette|issue=28362|startpage=3072|date=3 May 1910|accessdate=2008-01-04] During World War I (1914–18), he commanded the Seistan Force, for which he was Mentioned in Despatches [LondonGazette|issue=30360|supp=yes|startpage=11270|date=30 October 1917|accessdate=2008-01-04] and made a Companion of the Bath (CB). He was promoted Colonel in 1915, [LondonGazette|issue=29924|supp=yes|startpage=1058|date=30 January 1917|accessdate=2008-01-04] [LondonGazette|issue=31787|supp=yes|startpage=2046|date=17 February 1920|accessdate=2008-01-04] and was made a temporary Brigadier-General in 1916. [LondonGazette|issue=29509|supp=yes|startpage=2902|date=14 March 1916|accessdate=2008-01-04] [LondonGazette|issue=30617|supp=yes|startpage=4273|date=5 April 1918|accessdate=2008-01-04] In 1919, about a month after the Amritsar incident, in the Third Anglo-Afghan War, his Brigade relieved the garrison of Thal, for which he was again mentioned in dispatches. [LondonGazette|issue=31823|supp=yes|startpage=3278|date=12 March 1920|accessdate=2008-01-04] 5th Brigade at Jamrud was his last command posting for a few months in 1919. He retired on 17 July 1920, retaining the rank of Colonel. [LondonGazette|issue=32047|startpage=9148|date=10 September 1920|accessdate=2008-01-04]

Background

The white population in Punjab in 1919 feared a plot to overthrow British rule. There was talk of mutiny and of death threats to Europeans. Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, decided to deport leading agitators from the province. One person who was targeted was Dr. Satyapal, who was in the Army Medical Services during World War I. He advocated non-violent civil disobedience and was prevented from speaking in public. Another person was Dr. Kitchlew, a Muslim barrister who wanted political change and was non-violent. The Deputy Commissioner, Miles Irving, did not know the background of these two people and suspected some deeper conspiracy resulting in the arrest of the two men. This event led to a burst of events in Punjab. Crowds gathered in all public places demanding a release of the two men. The troops panicked and opened fire on a bridge across a railway line, causing several deaths. This resulted in a mob which returned to the city centre. Reinforcements were brought in for the army.

The mobs sought out Europeans in the city. On April 9 1919, Miss Marcella Sherwood, who supervised the Mission Day School for Girls was bicycling round the city to close her schools when she was assaulted by the mob in a narrow street, the Kucha Kurrichhan, was beaten and left wounded. She was rescued by local Indians who hid her from the mob and moved her to the fort. This attack on a lady incensed Dyer, who was the commandant of the infantry brigade in Jullundur, who instructed the troops of the garrison regarding reprisals against Indians.

Amritsar Massacre

Brigadier Dyer is infamous for the orders which he gave on April 13 1919 in Amritsar. It was under his command that 90 troops, comprising of 25 Gurkhas of 1st/9th Gurkha Rifles, 25 Pathans and Baluch of 54th Sikhs and 59th Sindh Rifles, all armed with .303 Lee-Enfield rifles and the Gurkhas additionally armed with "khukris" opened fire on a gathering of unarmed civilians, including women and children gathered at the Jallianwalla Bagh in what came to be later known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The civilians had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh to participate in the annual Baisakhi celebrations which are both a religious as well as a cultural festival of the Punjabis. The Bagh-space comprised 6–7 acres and was walled on all sides except for five entrances, four of them being very narrow and admitting only a few people at a time. The fifth entrance was blocked by the armed soldiers and by two armoured cars armed with machine guns, although these vehicles were unable to pass through the entrance. Upon entering the park, the General immediately ordered troops to fire directly upon the assembled gathering; firing continued till his troops' ammunition of 1650 rounds was fully exhausted.See: Report of Commissioners,Vol I, II, Bombay, 1920, Reprint New Delhi, 1976, p 56.] The firing continued unabated for about 10 minutes. [Disorder Inquiry Committee Report, Vol II, p 191.] From time to time, Dyer "checked his fire and directed it upon places where the crowd was thickest" ; he did this not because the crowd was slow to disperse, but because he (the General) "had made up his mind to punish them for having assembled there." Some of the soldiers initially fired in the air, at which General Dyer shouted: "Fire low. What have you been brought here for?." ["Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, A Premeditated Plan", Punjab University Chandigarh, 1969, p 89, Raja Ram; "A Saga of Freedom Movement and Jallianwala Bagh", Udham Singh, 2002, p 141, Prof (Dr) Sikander Singh.] Later, Dyer's own testimony revealed that the crowd was not given any warning to disperse and he felt no remorse for having ordered his troops to fire. [ See: "Report of Commissioners, Vol I, II", Bombay, 1920, Reprint New Delhi, 1976, p 55-56.]

Injury and Death statistics

The official reports quote 379 dead and over 1,000 injured. However, public enquiry estimates,Home Political, Sept 1920, No 23, National Archive of India, New Delhi] figures from Government Civil Servants in the city [ Report of Commissioners, appointed by the Punjab Sub-committee of Indian National Congress, Vol I, New Delhi, p 68] as well as counts from the Home Political cite numbers well over a thousand dead. According to a Home Political Deposit report, the number was over 1,000, with more than 1,200 wounded. [Home Political Deposit, September, 1920, No 23, National Archives of India, New Delhi; Report of Commissioners, Vol I, New Delhi.] Dr. Smith, a British civil surgeon at Amritsar, indicated over 1800 casualties. [Report of Commissioners, Vol I, New Delhi, p 105] These massive casualties earned general Dyer the infamous epitaph of "The Butcher of Amritsar" in India. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the actual figures were deliberately suppressed by the government for political reasons.

Threatening language

On the day following the massacre, Mr. Kitchin, the Commissioner of Lahore as well as General Dyer, both used threatening language. The following is the English translation of Dyer's Urdu Statement directed at the local residents of Amritsar on the afternoon of April 14, 1919, a day after the Amritsar massacre:

"You people know well that I am a Sepoy and soldier. Do you want war or peace? If you wish for a war, the Government is prepared for it, and if you want peace, then obey my orders and open all your shops; else I will shoot. For me the battle-field of France or Amritsar is the same. I am a military man and I will go straight. Neither shall I move to the right nor to the left. Speak up, if you want war? In case there is to be peace, my order is to open all shops at once. You people talk against the Government and persons educated in Germany and Bengal talk sedition. I shall report all these. Obey my orders. I do not wish to have anything else. I have served in the military for over 30 years. I understand the Indian Sepoy and Sikh people very well. You will have to obey my orders and observe peace. Otherwise the shops will be opened by force and Rifles. You will have to report to me of the Badmash. I will shoot them. Obey my orders and open shops. Speak up if you want war? You have committed a bad act in killing the English. The revenge will be taken upon you and upon your children." [ See: A Saga of Freedom Movement and Jallianwala Bagh, Udham Singh, 2002, p 149, Prof (Dr) Sikander Singh; Report of Commissioners,Vol I, II, Bombay, 1920, Reprint New Delhi, 1976, p 11.; for full text of Dyer's Statement]

Crawling Order

Brigadier Dyer designated the spot where Miss Marcella Sherwood was assaulted sacred and daytime pickets were placed at either end of the street. Anyone wishing to proceed in the street between 6am and 8pm was made to crawl the convert|150|yd on all fours, lying flat on their bellies. The order was not required at night due to a curfew. The humiliation of the order struck the Indians deeply. Most importantly, the order effectively closed the street. The houses had no back doors and the inhabitants could not go out without climbing down from their roofs. This order was in effect from April 19 until April 25 1919. No doctor or supplier was allowed in, resulting in the sick being untended.

Reaction in India and Britain

Reaction to the massacre varied. A large section of the white population in India condoned it while Indians were generally against it. Lord William Hunter Committee of Inquiry was set up to probe the violence. The report condemned Dyer, arguing that in "continuing firing as long as he did, it appears to us that General Dyer committed a grave error." The dissenting members argued that the martial law regime's use of force was wholly unjustified. "General Dyer thought he had crushed the rebellion and Sir Michael O'Dwyer was of the same view," they wrote, "(but) there was no rebellion which required to be crushed." The committee reported
*lack of notice to disperse from the Bagh in the beginning was an error
*length of firing showed a grave error
*Dyer's motive of producing a sufficient moral effect was to be condemned
*lack of attention to the wounded was not acceptableHe was met by Lieutenant-General Sir Havelock Hudson, who told him that he was deprived of his command. He was later told by the Commander-in-Chief in India, General Sir Charles Carmichael Monro, to resign his post and that he would not be reemployed.

While a number of people in the press in Britain and India supported General Dyer, there was a significant set of people who refused to accept his version of the events
*During the Dyer debates in the Parliament of the United Kindgom, the House of Commons censured his role and action in the Jallianwala Bagh.Fact|date=February 2007
*British Labour Party Conference at Scarborough unanimously passed a resolution on 24 June 1920 denouncing the Amritsar massacre as "cruel and barbarous action" of British officers in Punjab and called for their trial, recall of Michael O’Dwyer and Mr. Chemsford and repeal repressive legislation. ["The Times", London, June 25, 1920, cited in Sayer, "British Reaction of Amritsar massacre", 1919-20, Reprint in "Jallianwala Bagh Commemoration Volume", Patiala, 1997, p 41]
*Mr C. F. Andrews termed the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre as "cold-blooded massacre and inhumane." Home Political, K. W., A, June 20, 1920, Nos 126-194, National Archives of India, New Delhi.]
*Brigadier General Surtees said in the Dyer debate that "we hold India by force -undoubtedly by force." [Arthur Swinson, "Six Minutes of Sunset", London, 1964, p 210; cited in "Psycho-Political compulsions of Jallinawala Bagh" by Gurcaharan Singh, op cit, p 156.]
*Mr Montagu, the Secretary of State in India, called it "a grave error in judgement."
*Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for War at the time of the debate in the British Parliament the House of Commons, called it "an episode without precedent or parallel in the modern history of British Empire…an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation."
*Herbert Asquith observed: "There has never been such an incident in the whole annals of Anglo-Indian History nor I believe in the history of our empire since its very inception down to present day….it is one of the worst outrages in the whole of our history." ["Hansard", 5th sec. Commons, quoted by Derek Sayer, British Commemoration of Amritsar Volume, Patiala, 1997, p 24.]
*B. G. Horniman observed: "No event within living memory, probably, has made so deep and painful impression on the mind of the public in this country (England) as what came to be known as the Amritsar massacre." ["Amritsar and Our Duty to India", London, 1920, B. G. Horniman, p 7.]
*Pandit Motilal Nehru, father of Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, called the massacre the "saddest and most revealing of all." [Valentine Chitol, "India Old and New," London, 1921, p 312]
*Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Nobel Laureate and distinguished Indian educator said, "a great crime has been done in the name of law in the Punjab." ["Tribune", Lahore, 16th April, 1919, see Government of India, Home Department, Political Deposit, August, 1919, No 52, National Archieves of India, New Delhi.]
*Sir Shankaran Nair resigned his membership of the Viceroy's Executive Council in the Legislative Council of Punjab. Nawab Din Murad and Kartar Singh called it "neither just nor humane." [Punjab Legislative Council Proceedings, 23rd Feb, 1921, Vol I I.]
*The era of Michael O’Dwyer and Dyer has been deemed "an era of misdeeds of British administration in India." [Government of India, External affairs Department, File No 1940, Newspapers (Secret), p 2]

The House of Lords and the "Morning Post" of Britain and some section of Britons at home, however, supported this massacre. Reconciliation was made further difficult by the Government's insensitivity and the British reaction to the Hunter report disillusioned many of the educated men of India.

Return to Britain

On his return to Britain, General Dyer was presented with a purse of 26,000 pounds sterling, a huge sum in those days, which emerged from a collection on his behalf by the "Morning Post", a conservative, pro-Imperialistic newspaper, which later merged with the "Daily Telegraph". A Thirteen Women Committee was constituted to present "the Saviour of the Punjab with sword of honour and a purse." This single incident incensed the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore so much that he renounced his knighthood in protest. The "Morning Post" had supported Dyer’s action on grounds stating that the massacre was necessary to "Protect the honor of European Women." [Morning Post, cited in Derek Sayer, "British Reaction of Amritsar massacre", 1919-20, reprinted in "Jallianwala Bagh Commemoration Volume", Patiala, 1997, p 45.] The "Morning Post" curiously blamed Mr Montagu, Secretary of State (India), and not General Dyer for the massacre and asked for his court trial. Mr Montagu, on the other hand, in a long letter to the Viceroy, passed the blame on to Michael O'Dwyer and admitted "I feel that O’Dwyer represents a regime that is doomed."Fact|date=April 2007

General Dyer was oblivious of the events that he was responsible for. He wrote an article in the Globe of 21 January, 1921, titled, "The Peril to the Empire". It commenced with, "India does not want self-government. She does not understand it." He went on to write
*It is only to an enlightened people that free speech and a free press can be extended. The Indian people want no such enlightenment
*There should be an eleventh commandment in India, "Thou shalt not agitate"
*The time will come to India when a strong hand will be exerted against malice and 'perversion' of good order
*Gandhi will not lead India to capable self-government. The British Raj must continue, firm and unshaken in its administration of justice to all men.

Death

After the Amritsar massacre, Dyer's health failed and in 1921 he was stricken with paralysis. He never recovered. He died at Long Ashton, near Bristol, on July 23 1927 of Atherosclerosis and cerebral haemorrhage. In the final moments of his life, he is reported to have murmured: "but I don’t want to get better. Some say I did right, while others say I did wrong. I only want to die... and know of my maker whether I did right or wrong." [Alfred Draper, "The Massacre that Ended the Raj", p 255; "Dictionary of National Bibliography", op cit, 281, 651]

The Morning Post remembered him in articles titled, "The Man Who Saved India" and "He did his Duty". The Westminster Gazette wrote a contrary opinion, "No British action, during the whole course of our history in India, has struck a severer blow to Indian faith in British justice than the massacre at Amritsar, and the attitude of official Anglo-India to it."

Role of Michael O'Dwyer

Michael O'Dwyer, the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, supported General Dyer for his actions and had termed the massacre as a "correct" action." [See: Michael O'Dwyer's telegram to Dyer: "Your action correct. Lieutenant Governor approves", See "Disorder Inquiry Committee Report", Vol II, p 197]

In his book, "India as I Knew It", Michael O'Dwyer remarked in 1925: "The Punjabis were quick to take to heart the lessons that the revolution is a dangerous thing." ["India as I Knew It", 1925, p 225, Michael O'Dwyer] But the later developments demonstrated how far Michael O'Dwyer was wrong in his assessment. A few years later, O'Dwyer was shot dead in Caxton Hall in the heart of London on March 13, 1940, by a Punjabi, Shaheed Udham Singh, as an act of revenge for the Amritsar massacre in particular and his rule of political repression in Punjab in general. ["A Saga of Freedom Movement and Jallianwala Massacre, Great Patriot and Martyr", Udham Singh, 2003, p 68, Prof. (Dr.) Sikanadr Singh]

References

Further reading

* Alfred Draper, "The Massacre that Ended the Raj", London, 1981
* Ian Duncan Colvin, "The life of General Dyer", Edinburgh, London : W. Blackwood & Sons Ltd, 1929
* Nigel Collett, "The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer", London: Hambledon & London, 2005 ISBN 1-85285-457-X
*

ee also

* Seistan Force, for the full text of Dyer's Mention in Despatches

External links

* [http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/churchill/amritsar.htm Winston Churchill's Amritsar Speech] , July 8th 1920, U.K. House of Commons