General Reginald Dyer

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Brigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry DyerCB (October 9, 1864 – July 23, 1927) in Murree city (the name Murree is derived from 'marhi', "high place") then a popular hill station and summer resort of Punjab, now in Pakistan. He was raised in Shimla receiving his early education at its Bishop Cotton School. Murree had earlier been the summer capital of Punjab before Shimla became the summer capital of the British Raj. He attended Midleton College, Co. Cork. Ireland between 1875 and 1881. Graduating from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst he was commissioned into the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) as a Lieutenant. 1886 saw his first service in riot control in Belfast. He served in the the Third Burmese War (1886–87).

His next posting was to the Indian Army, joining the Bengal Staff Corps as a Lieutenant in 1887. Soon he was back serving in the country of his birth in the 29th Punjabis. He was promoted Captain in 1896. Five years later he was appointed a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General. Transferred from the 29th to the 25th Punjabis he eventually took charge of the unit which served in Hong Cong where he was made Lieutenant-Colonel in 1910.

Service in World War I

With the the temporary rank of Brig-General, Dyer commanded the Seistan Force in 1915 'til ill health led to his replacement. The Seistan Force, first known as the East Persia Cordon, was a force of British Indian Army troops which was posted to prevent enemy infiltration from Persia into Afghanistan during World War I. The British were determined that Afghanistan should remain neutral and not be drawn into the war the Ottoman (Central Powers) side.

London Gazette

General Charles Carmichael Monro, C-in-C, India, included reports detailing his daring service in Afganistan in reports which were published in the London Gazette in 1917. Now a national hero he was soon made a Companion of the Bath (CB).

Post World War I, Punjab

Returning from service in WWII many soldiers (mostly Sikhs), who had served honorably and valiantly in the Battlefields of Europe, were expecting that the British would repay their loyalaty and service by allowing more participation of Punjabis in their own governance. Instead of a liberalization of existing laws new harsher laws were soon enacted. Perhaps the most hated of these draconoan laws was the Rowlat Act.

Fearing a plot to overthrow British rule and with rumors of mutiny and death threats to Europeans. Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, decided to deport and arrest the leading agitators.

Dr. Satyapal, a veteran of World War I, and Dr. Kitchlew, a Muslim barrister both of whom were supporting non-violent civil disobedience were prevented from speaking in public. Then the Deputy Commissioner, Miles Irving, suspecting some deeper conspiracy had them arrested . Their arrest resulted in crowds who gathered in public demanding a release of the two men. At one location the troops panicked and opened fire on a bridge across a railway line, causing several deaths. Soon an angry mob crowded the city's center. Before reinforcements could arrive members of the mob 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 school when she was assaulted by the mob in a narrow street, the Kucha Kurrichhan. She was beaten , but was rescued by local Indians who hid her from the mob and moving her to the safety of the fort. This attack on a 'white lady' incensed Dyer, who was the commandant of the infantry brigade in Jullundur, who instructed the troops of the garrison regarding reprisals against Indians.

Arriving in the city…


…in progress




Third Anglo-Afghan War, his Brigade relieved the garrison of Thal for which he was again mentioned in dispatches. 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.




The man who ordered the massacre at Jallianvalle Bagh. Wife Annie Dyer.

By dying in 1927 he escaped the punishment that Udham Singh had no doubt planned for him. Udham Singh would instead assasinate Sir Micheal O'Dwyer who had been the British official in charge at Amritsar during the massacre.

in progress