Reginald Dyer
What was Reginald Dyer’s role in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre?
What actions did Reginald Dyer take before the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre?
How many people were estimated to have been killed and wounded in the massacre?
What was the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre for Reginald Dyer?
Reginald Dyer (born October 9, 1864, Murree, India—died July 23, 1927, Long Ashton, near Bristol, England) was a British Brig. Gen. known for his role in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in India, on April 13, 1919. On this day, British troops opened fire on a large crowd of unarmed Indians in a garden called the Jallianwala Bagh (bagh meaning “garden”) in Amritsar in the Punjab region (now in Punjab state) of colonized India, killing several hundred people and wounding many hundreds more.
Dyer was commissioned in the West Surrey Regiment in 1885 and subsequently transferred to the Indian Army. He campaigned in Burma (Myanmar) in 1886–87 and took part in a blockade of Waziristan (now in Pakistan) in 1901–02. During World War I (1914–18) he had charge of the Eastern Persian cordon, the purpose of which was to prevent German crossings into Afghanistan.
Dyer was brigade commander at Jalandhar, southeast of Amritsar, in early 1919. Following the outbreak of rioting and violence in Amritsar in April—which included the killing of four Europeans and the beating of a woman missionary—he moved his troops to that city to restore order there; one of the stipulations was a ban on public gatherings.
On the afternoon of April 13 a crowd of at least 10,000 men, women, and children gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh, which was nearly completely enclosed by walls and had only one exit. It is not clear how many people there were peaceful protesters who were defying the ban on public meetings and how many had come to the city from the surrounding region to celebrate Baisakhi, a spring festival. Dyer and his soldiers arrived and sealed off the exit. Without warning, the troops opened fire on the crowd, reportedly shooting hundreds of rounds (about 1,650) until they ran out of ammunition. It is not certain how many died in the bloodbath, but, according to one official report, an estimated 379 people were killed, and about 1,200 more were wounded. Immediately after the troops ceased firing, they withdrew from the place, leaving behind the dead and wounded. As a result, Dyer was removed from command into enforced retirement. The matter received international attention, and Indian nationalists turned the site into a martyrs’ memorial.