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Michael Francis O'Dwyer (28 April 1864 – 13 March 1940) was an Irish colonial officer in the
Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...
(ICS) and later the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab,
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, between 1913 and 1919. During O'Dwyer's tenure as Punjab's Lieutenant Governor, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred in
Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...
, on 13 April 1919. As a result, his actions are considered among the most significant factors in the rise of the
Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...
. O'Dwyer endorsed Reginald Dyer's action at Jallianwala Bagh and made it clear that he considered Dyer's orders to shoot at the crowds was correct. He subsequently administered
martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
in Punjab, on 15 April and backdated it to 30 March 1919. In 1925, he published '' India as I Knew It'' in which he wrote that his time as administrator in Punjab was preoccupied by the threat of Indian Nationalism, demanding freedom and the spread of political agitation. In 1940, in retaliation for the massacre, O'Dwyer was assassinated by the Indian revolutionist Sardar Udham Singh.


Early life and education

Michael Francis O'Dwyer was born on 28 April 1864 in Barronstown, Limerick Junction,
County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...
, to John, a landowner of Barronstown, Solohead, and Margaret (née Quirke) O'Dwyer, of Toem, both in County Tipperary, Ireland. He was the sixth son in a family of fourteen children, At the age of seven, he was sent to be schooled at St Stanislaus College, Rahan, County Offaly. Later, he attended Mr Wren's educational crammer school in Powis Square, London, and subsequently passed the open entrance competition for the
Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...
in 1882. After completing two years of probation at
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...
, he passed the final examination in 1884 in fourth place overall. At the time, the ICS examination was highly competitive, with no more than 1200 ICS officers in office at one time, and he was likely influenced by the reputations of the likes of Lord Lawrence, one of the first British civil administrators in India. In his third year he obtained a first class in
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
. Philip Woodruff wrote of O'Dwyer's upbringing:
Michael O'Dwyer was one of the fourteen children of an unknown Irish land-owner of no great wealth, as much farmer as landlord. He was brought up in a world of hunting and snipe-shooting, of threatening letters and houghed cattle, where you were for the Government or against it, where you passed every day the results of lawlessness in the blackened walls of empty houses. It was a world very different from the mild and ordered life of southern England... One gets the impression f O'Dwyer when at Balliolof a man who seldom opened a book without a purpose, whose keen hard brain acquired quickly and did not forget but had little time for subtleties.
The O'Dwyer family were Anglophiles and Unionists. In 1882, his family home in Ireland was fired upon by Irish nationalists, and the following year, his father died after a second stroke. Of his siblings, two brothers served in India, and two others became Jesuit priests.


Early career

In 1885, he travelled to India as an ICS officer and was first posted to Shahpur in Punjab. Mittal, Satish Chandra (1977)
''Freedom Movement in Punjab (1905-29)''
Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. pp. 71-78.
He distinguished himself in land revenue settlement work and in 1896 was made director of land records and agriculture in Punjab. Subsequently, he was placed in charge of the settlements of Alwar and Bharatpur states. After a year and a half of travels around Europe and Russia, he was selected by Lord Curzon for a significant role in the organisation of the new North-West Frontier Province and its separation from Punjab. From 1901 to 1908, he was revenue commissioner; from 1908 to 1909, he was acting resident in
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
; and from 1910 to 1912, he was agent to the governor-general in
Central India Central India refers to a geographical region of India that generally includes the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The Central Zonal Council, established by the Government of India, includes these states as well as Uttar Prades ...
. In December 1912, during Lord Hardinge of Penshurst's tenure as
Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...
, O'Dwyer was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Punjab. When he assumed charge in May 1913, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India and was cautioned by the Viceroy Hardinge that "the Punjab was the Province about which the Government were then the most concerned; that there was much inflammable material lying about; which required very careful handling if an explosion was to be avoided".


First World War recruitment

O'Dwyer worked closely with the military authorities and sought the aid of local rural Punjabi leaders to organise a centralised system for the recruitment of soldiers for the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
effort in exchange for compensation, including major land grants and formal titles. Yong, Tan Tai (2005)
''The Garrison State: Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947''
New Delhi:
SAGE Publications Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California. Sage ...
. p. 15.
As a result, most of the recruits were drawn from rural areas of the Punjab, which ultimately left a number of families without their breadwinners. Those who returned from the war aspired to a reward and a better life. The co-operation between the civil and military leaders and the leading rural Punjabis, as later described by the historian Tan Tai Yong, laid "the foundations of a militarized bureaucracy in colonial Punjab". Of the Indian recruits for the War from the whole of India, the 360,000 from the Punjab formed more than half. In 1917, O'Dwyer's efforts in recruiting Punjabi men for the war effort earned him appointment as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Indian Empire, when India's Viceroy was Lord Chelmsford.Tan, 2005, pp. 111-112
/ref> However, during the war, there was also a growing home rule movement.


Defence of India Act 1915

He played a significant role in persuading the British government in India to pass the 1915 Defence of India Act, which gave him considerable powers. Passed on 18 March 1915, the Act allowed special tribunals for revolutionary crimes to take place without possibilities for appeal.Mittal, 1977, pp. 96-98
/ref> He opposed the
Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more concisely the Mont–Ford Reforms, were introduced by the colonial government to introduce self-governing institutions gradually in British India. The reforms take their name from Edwin Montagu, the Sec ...
for fear that his efforts in recruitment through the rural leaders would be destroyed by increasing powers to “urban elites”.Tan, 2005, pp. 21
/ref>


Surveillance in 1919

From mid-March 1919, under O’Dwyer's orders, the CID in Amritsar kept a close surveillance of two Gandhian non-violent Indian nationalists; the Muslim barrister Saifuddin Kitchlew and the Hindu physician Dr. Satyapal. O'Dwyer subsequently summoned both to Deputy Commissioner Miles Irving's house in the Civil Lines on 10 April 1919 from where they were arrested and secretly escorted to Dharamasala, at the foot of the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
, to be kept under house arrest.Mittal, 1977, pp. 120
/ref> Wagner, Kim A. (2019
''Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre''
New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
. pp.74-76.
As the news of the arrest became widespread, supporters began to gather near Irving's home, and what initially began as a peaceful attempt to make enquiries ended up in a violent clash.Anand, ''The Patient Assassin'' (2019). pp.81-83
/ref>Wagner, 2019, pp. 126-127.
/ref> On 13 April 1919, a meeting was called to take place at Jallianwala Bagh to protest the arrest.


Amritsar massacre

It was during O'Dwyer's tenure as Lieutenant Governor of Punjab that the Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred in
Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...
on 13 April 1919, three days after the onset of the riots. A detachment of 50 British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer fired on a crowd in Amritsar, killing more than 3,000 people. V. N. Datta, ''Jallianwala Bagh'' (Ludhiana, 1969), pp. 104–105. According to then civil surgeon Dr Smit 1,526 people had been killed. O'Dwyer was informed of the event at 3 am the following day. When he received Dyer's initial report, O'Dwyer gave permission to General
William Beynon William Beynon (1888–1958), also known as Gusgai'in or Gusgain, was a Canadian hereditary chief of the Tsimshian Nation and an oral historian. He served as an ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists who s ...
to send a telegram to Dyer that stated "your action correct and the lieutenant-governor approves".O'Dwyer, Michael (1925)
''India as I knew it''
Constable and Company. p. 286.
O'Dwyer and several other senior colonial officials supported Dyer's actions both initially, when only limited information had been received, and later, when more detailed information of the scale of the killings became available. Subsequently,
martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
was imposed on 15 April and backdated to 30 March. As a result, his actions are considered one of the most significant factors in the rise of the
Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...
, led by
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
. On 21 April 1919 in Dyer's defence, O'Dwyer stated to Viceroy Chelmsford that "the Amritsar business cleared the air, and if there was to be holocaust anywhere, and one regrets that there should be, it was best at Amritsar".Wagner, 2019, p. 256
/ref> One theory surrounding the massacre, as described by Pearay MohanMohan, Pearay. (1920
''An Imaginary Rebellion''
Lahore: Khosla Bros. pp. 118-120.
and historian Raja Ram, is one of a "premeditated plan" conspired by O'Dwyer and others, including a young Punjabi youth Hans Raj.Ram, Raja (1969)
''Jallianwala Bagh Massacre – A Pre-Mediated Plan''
Chandigarh: Punjab University.
Other historians including Nick Lloyd, K. L. Tuteja,K. L. Tuteja
"Jallianwala Bagh: A Critical Juncture in the Indian National Movement"
''
Social Scientist Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
''. Vol. 25, No. 1/2 (January 1997 – February 1997), pp. 25-61.
Anita AnandAnand, 2019, p. 327
/ref> and Kim A. Wagner have found that theory to lack evidence and that there was no conspiracy that Hans Raj was an "
agent provocateur An is a person who actively entices another person to commit a crime that would not otherwise have been committed and then reports the person to the authorities. They may target individuals or groups. In jurisdictions in which conspiracy is a ...
".Wagner, 2019, pp. 200–208.
/ref> O'Dwyer had contended without evidence that Dyer's violent suppression of the civilian demonstration was justified because the illegal gathering was part of a premeditated conspiracy to rebellion, which was timed supposedly to coincide with a rumoured Afghan invasion. Although O'Dwyer had implemented martial law in the Punjab, he denied responsibility for the consequences on the grounds that the government had relieved him of its general implementation. However, he could not disclaim responsibility for the decision, after severe rioting in
Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...
, to send an aeroplane to bomb and strafe the area. During the course of the operation, at least a dozen people, including children, were killed. The next year, on 24 June 1920, the opposition Labour Party Conference at
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
unanimously passed a resolution, which denounced the "cruel and barbarous actions" of British colonial officials in Punjab and demanded they be put on trial, the dismissal of O'Dwyer and Chelmsford and the repeal of the Rowlatt Act. The delegates rose in their places as a tribute to those killed at Jallianwala Bagh. After the Punjab disturbances, O'Dwyer was relieved of his office. O'Dwyer was an Irish nationalist. The reason for his differing views on India was racism. Shortly before the Amritsar Massacre, he declared that
home rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...
was "a lofty and generous ideal" which Ireland deserved, but one that India was not yet "fit". The difference, he said, was that self-government was a status "which in one form or another Ireland had for centuries enjoyed," whereas Indians were intellectually incapable of handling home rule. He claimed that most of them had been "groping blindly through all stages of civilisation from the fifth to the twentieth century."


O'Dwyer v. Nair

In 1922, Sir Sankaran Nair referred to O'Dwyer in his book '' Gandhi and Anarchy'' and stated that "before the reforms it was in the power of the Lieutenant-Governor, a single individual, to commit the atrocities in the Punjab which we know only too well". O'Dwyer subsequently successfully sued Nair for
libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
and was awarded £500 damages. Heard before Mr Justice McCardie in the King's Bench Division of the High Court in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
over five weeks from 30 April 1924, it was one of the longest civil law hearings in legal history. O'Dwyer saw the trial as a way of providing justifications for Dyer's actions at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.


Assassination

O'Dwyer, aged 75, was shot dead at a joint meeting of the East India Association and the Central Asian Society (now Royal Society for Asian Affairs) in Caxton Hall in
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
, London, on 13 March 1940, by Indian revolutionary, Udham Singh, in retaliation for the massacre in Amritsar. O'Dwyer was hit by two bullets and died instantly. Lord Zetland, the Secretary of State for India, was presiding over the meeting and was wounded. Zetland, recovering from his injuries, later opted for early retirement from his position of Secretary of State for India and was succeeded by Leo Amery as Secretary of State for India. Udham Singh made no attempt to escape and was arrested at the scene. O'Dwyer was later buried in Brookwood Cemetery, near
Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
. At his trial, Singh told the court:


Personal life and family

He married Una Eunice, daughter of Antoine Bord of
Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...
, France, on 21 November 1896. The couple had two children. She established 'Lady O'Dwyer's Punjab Comforts Fund', one of several charitable organisations created in India during the First World War to raise money and other gifts to provide comforts for troops serving with the Indian Army. She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in her own right in the 1919 Birthday Honours, in which their daughter, Una Mary O'Dwyer, was created a
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
. In the late 1930s, O'Dwyer became a member of the Liberty Restoration League, a front organisation for the pro-Nazi Nordic League.


Arms


Writing

In his book '' India as I knew it'' (1925), O'Dwyer disclosed that his time as administrator in Punjab was preoccupied by the threat of terrorism and the spread of political agitation. In 1933, he published ''The O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh: The History of an Irish Sept'', a historical and genealogical treatise detailing the O'Dwyer (Ó Duibhir) noble family that had commanded the area around Thurles from the pre- Norman era until it lost its castles and land during the Cromwellian confiscations of the 17th century. In later life, he wrote frequently to ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' to condemn the Gandhian non-cooperation movement and to endorse British rule in India.


Selected publications


Articles


"Border Countries of the Punjab Himalaya: Discussion"
''
The Geographical Journal ''The Geographical Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It publishes papers covering research on all aspects of geography. It also publishes shorter ...
''. Vol. 60, No. 4 (1922), pp. 264–68. . Co-authored with Louis Dane and W. Coldstream.
"Races and Religions in the Punjab"
Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, London. Vol. 74, Issue 3827 (26 March 1926), pp. 420–449.


Books


''India as I knew it''
London: Constable & Company (1925)
''The O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh: The History of an Irish Sept''
London: J. Murray, (1933).
''Fusion of Anglo Norman and Gael''
London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, (1938?).


Book chapters


"Kipling — "Some Recollections""
In: Orel H. (eds) Kipling. London:
Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...
, (1983).


In popular culture

He was portrayed by Dave Anderson in the 2000 Bollywood movie '' Shaheed Udham Singh'' and by Shaun Scott in the 2021 Bollywood movie '' Sardar Udham''.


References


Further reading

*Singh, Navtej Singh and Jouhl, Avtar Singh (2002).
Emergence of the Image: Redact Documents of Udham Singh
'. New Delhi: National Book Organisation. *Singh, Sikander (1998)
''Udham Singh, alias, Ram Mohammed Singh Azad: A great patriot and martyr who challenged the British imperialism : a saga of the freedom movement and Jallianwala Bagh''
Amritsar: B. Chattar Singh Jiwan Singh. *Nair, Lady Madhavan (1966).
''Autobiography of Sir C. Sankaran Nair''


External links


House of Commons
6 August 1919 Volume 119
Sir Michael O'Dwyer (assassination)
HC Deb 14 March 1940 vol 358 cc1372-3 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Odwyer, Michael 1864 births 1940 deaths People murdered in 1940 Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Anti-Indian sentiment Antisemitism in the United Kingdom Assassinated British politicians Assassinated Irish politicians Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Deaths by firearm in London Governors of Punjab (British India) Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Irish colonial officials Irish fascists Irish knights Irish mass murderers Irish nationalists Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire People educated at St Stanislaus College Murder victims from County Limerick People murdered in Westminster British civil servants in British India Politicians assassinated in the 1940s Jallianwala Bagh massacre British white supremacists