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Reginald Dyer

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Brigadier-General Reginald "Rex" Edward Harry Dyer (October 9, 1864 – July 23, 1927) was a British Indian Army officer.

Under his command, 150 British troops killed 400 unarmed Indians and injured 1200 (though many Indians claim a death toll in the thousands) in the Amritsar Massacre of April 13, 1919. The crowd was assembled in a park, participating in a political rally protesting the Rowlatt Act. The park was walled, and had only one entrance, which the troops blocked. Naturally, the crowd was unable to comply with commands to disperse.

He was in command of the 8th (Jullundur) Brigade at time of the massacre. Although London society praised his ruthlessness, he was widely condemned internationally, and the Army forced him into retirement.

A number of Indians subsequently journeyed to England to assassinate British nobles and high-ranking military men in revenge. At their trials, they proudly admitted their guilt and mourned that they had no opportunity to slay more Brits to even the score. They were hanged but Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer was never charged for his crime.

Dyer was born in Murree, then a part of Undivided India and currently a part of Pakistan. In 1885 he was commissioned into the West Surrey Regiment, and then transferred to the Indian Army. He served in the Burma Campaign (1886-7), the relief of Chitral (1895), the Mahsud blockade (1900-2), and the Zakha Khel Expedition (1908). During World War I (1914-18) he commanded the Seistan Force, for which he was mentioned in despatches. In 1919, a month after the Amritsar incident, he was heralded as the "Saviour of Thal" in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Jullundur was his last command posting.

He died in the United Kingdom at Long Ashton, near Bristol.

References

  • 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 185285457X

See also

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