Reginald Dyer - Background

Background

The European population in Punjab during 1919 feared the Indians would overthrow British rule. A nationwide hartal (strike action) which was called for on 30 March (later changed to 6 April) by Gandhi, had turned violent in some areas. Authorities were also becoming concerned by displays of Hindu-Muslim unity. Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, decided to deport major agitators from the province. One person who was targeted was Dr. Satyapal, a Hindu who had served with the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I. He advocated non-violent civil disobedience and was forbidden by the authorities from speaking publicly. Another person was Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, a Muslim barrister who wanted political change and also preached non-violence. The district magistrate, acting on orders from the Punjab government, had the two leaders arrested. On 9 April 1919, crowds soon gathered at a bridge leading into the Civil Lines, where the British lived, demanding a release of the two men. Unable to hold the crowd back, troops panicked and began firing, causing several deaths of protesters.

The shooting of protesters resulted in a mob which returned to the city centre, setting fire to government buildings and attacking Europeans in the city. Three British bank employees were beaten to death, and Miss Marcella Sherwood, who supervised the Mission Day School for Girls was cycling round the city to close her schools when she was assaulted by a mob in a narrow street called the Kucha Kurrichhan. Sherwood was rescued from the mob by local Indians. They hid the teacher, who was hurt in the beating, before moving her to the fort. This attack, and others against Europeans, angered Dyer who was the commandant of the infantry brigade in Jalandhar. He arrived on 11 April to assume command, then instructed the troops of the garrison regarding reprisals against the population.

As per regimental diaries kept by the Gorkha Battalion adjutants in the British Indian Army, the plan to attack the gathering in Amritsar was claimed to have been triggered by this news of a mob attack on a British school teacher Sherwood, was later shown to be merely an excuse used by an incensed Dyer who commanded a brigade in nearby Jalandhar and the Lt Governor of Punjab Michael O'Dwyer who were convinced that they faced an imminent threat of mutiny in Punjab on the scale of 1857.