Author | Nigel Collett |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Reginald Dyer, Jallianwala Bagh massacre |
Genre | Historical biography |
Publisher | Continuum |
Publication date | 2006 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Pages | 576 |
ISBN | 978-1852855758 |
The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer is a 2006 historical biography written by Nigel Collett, a former Gurkha officer, which covers the life of Reginald Dyer. The book's title refers to the 1919 massacre at Jallianwala Bagh in which 379 people were shot by troops under the command of Dyer. [1] It is the second biography written on Dyer, the first having been written in the 1930s with co-operation from Dyer's widow.[ citation needed ]
Collett had read Dyer's book Raiders of the Sarhad while he was serving in the army. He returned to it when writing his dissertation for his Master of Arts in biography at the University of Buckingham. He spent three years researching and writing the book and completed the manuscript in 2003. [2]
The book begins with covering Dyer's parents' lives in British India and their brewery company [3] : 3 and then moves on to Dyer's early life, from his time as a day boy at Bishop Cotton school in India. [3] : 13 [4] The book then covers Dyer's life while he attended Midleton college in County Cork Ireland and his time at Sandhurst, [3] : 17 and then moves on to cover Dyer's life following his graduation from Sandhurst to his postings to the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) [5] in Cork to their deployment to Belfast during the 1886 Belfast riots and then his service during the Third Burmese War. [3] : 31 It then covers Dyer's return to India and being reunited with his family in Shimla and Dyer's studies in the learning Urdu, which was an exam he needed to pass to further his career and his postings to the 39th Garhwal Rifles and the 29th Punjabis to his return to England and the birth of his second child. [3] : 45
The book then covers Dyer's time in the 29th, to the Chitral Expedition, a campaign which Dyer had tried to join but which had ended six days before he arrived back from England, [3] : 61 it then covers Dyer's return to England as he had been granted a place at Camberley Staff College as he had passed the entrance exams, moving on to cover Dyer's passing the final examinations from Camberley and the birth of his second son. It then goes into detail on the Dyer's family return to India and Dyer being given the designation of wing officer. [3] : 75
The book moves on to cover the Amritsar massacre and subsequent investigation. It covers the reception to the news of the massacre in England to Dyer being pensioned out of the army and the campaign by the Morning Post newspaper which raised £26,000 ($42,386.5) from public donations. [3] : 207 [6]
Antony Copley writing in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society said the book would be an award-winning biography. [4] David McKirdy reviewing the book for the Asian Review of Books said that Collett was ideally placed to write this biography, as like Dyer Collett served in the British army, had attended Sandhurst and had also commanded a Gurkha regiment. McKirdy also says the book is a well referenced addition to other books which cover this time in history. [7] Chandar S. Sundaram writing for Itinerario has said that this was the "definitive work" on the massacre and that Collett had detailed the life of Dyer with exceptional skill. [8] Nicholas Fearn writing for The Independent said the book was a "thorough reconstruction" of the massacre and that the book was "heavily detailed treatment and serious to the point of dryness." He also said that because of the material Dyer could be compared to General Melchett from the comedy show Blackadder Goes Forth . [6] Mihir Bose writing for History Today said "Collett has told this terrible story with great, forensic skill, marshalling his facts brilliantly." [9] Gordon Johnson praised it as an "outstanding contribution to our understanding of this horrific event ... [that] presents a balanced reading of Dyer's character". [10]
Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, was an officer of the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. His military career began in the regular British Army but he soon transferred to the presidency armies of India.
Mohan Meakin is a large group of companies which started with Asia's first brewery incorporated in 1855 by Edward Dyer at Kasauli in the Himalayan Mountains in India under the name Dyer Breweries.
The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more briefly known as 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 Secretary of State for India from 1917 to 1922, and Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy of India between 1916 and 1921. The reforms were outlined in the Montagu–Chelmsford Report, prepared in 1918, and formed the basis of the Government of India Act 1919. These are related to constitutional reforms. Indian nationalists considered that the reforms did not go far enough, while British conservatives were critical of them. The important features of this act were that:
Jallianwala Bagh is a historic garden and memorial of national importance close to the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, India, preserved in the memory of those wounded and killed in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre that took place on the site on the festival of Baisakhi Day, 13 April 1919. The 7-acre (28,000 m2) site houses a museum, gallery and several memorial structures. It is managed by the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, and was renovated between 2019 and 2021.
The action at Kalmas was a battle between the British Army and a group of guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan in 1916.
Sir Michael Francis O'Dwyer was an Irish colonial officer in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and later the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, British India, between 1913 and 1919.
Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India. It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which in 1802 became the Senior Department of the new Royal Military College. In 1858 the name of the Senior Department was changed to "Staff College", and in 1870 this was separated from the Royal Military College. Apart from periods of closure during major wars, the Staff College continued to operate until 1997, when it was merged into the new Joint Services Command and Staff College. The equivalent in the Royal Navy was the Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, and the equivalent in the Royal Air Force was the RAF Staff College, Bracknell.
William Hunter, Lord Hunter, was a Scottish advocate, judge and Liberal Party politician.
Old Monk Rum is a vatted Indian dark rum, launched in 1855. It is a dark rum with a distinct vanilla flavour, with an alcohol content of 42.8%. It is produced in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and has registered office in Solan, Himachal Pradesh.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large, peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, British India, during the annual Baishakhi fair to protest against the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of pro-independence activists Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal. In response to the public gathering, the temporary brigadier general R. E. H. Dyer surrounded the people with his Gurkha and Sikh infantry regiments of the British Indian Army. The Jallianwala Bagh could only be exited on one side, as its other three sides were enclosed by buildings. After blocking the exit with his troops, Dyer ordered them to shoot at the crowd, continuing to fire even as the protestors tried to flee. The troops kept on firing until their ammunition was exhausted. Estimates of those killed vary from 379 to 1,500 or more people; over 1,200 others were injured, of whom 192 sustained serious injuries. Britain has never formally apologised for the massacre but expressed "deep regret" in 2019.
Kasauli Brewery and Distillery, at Kasauli in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh state of India, was established in late 1920s during the British Raj by Edward Abraham Dyer. It started producing Asia's first beer brand, the "Lion Beer", and India's first single malt whisky, the ""Solan No. 1". Both of these brands are still in production. After the swap of brewery at Kasauli to Solan distillery and vice versa in 1835, presently Lion beer is produced at Solan and Solan No.1 whisky is produced at the Kasauli distillery using some of the original equipment including the copper pot still. The production of Lion beer was moved 25 km east to Solan Brewery at Solan, due to water scarcity, after civilian Kasauli hill station resort town came up around the brewery. Lion beer was originally an India Pale Ale (IPA), but the beer style was changed to lager in 1960s.
General Sir Charles Harington Harington, was a British Army officer most noted for his service during the First World War and the Chanak Crisis. During his 46 years in the army, Harington served in the Second Boer War, held various staff positions during the First World War, served as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff between 1918 and 1920, commanded the occupation forces in the Black Sea and Turkey, and ultimately became Governor of Gibraltar in 1933.
The Sedition Committee, usually known as the Rowlatt Committee, was a committee of inquiry appointed in 1917 by the British Indian Government with Sidney Rowlatt, an Anglo-Egyptian judge, as its president, charged with evaluating the threat posed to British rule by the revolutionary movement and determining the legal changes necessary to deal with it.
The 16th Indian Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during the First World War. It was formed in December 1916, during the First World War. It was the only war formed division of the British Indian Army that was not sent overseas, instead it was sent to guard the North West Frontier. The division took over the responsibilities of the 3rd Lahore Divisional Area when it was disbanded in May 1917.
Nigel Anthony Collett is a former lieutenant-colonel in the British Army and author of The Butcher of Amritsar. He is a contributor to the Asian Review of Books and to China Daily and is a moderator for the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, for which he was instrumental in promoting the first event which had a focus on gay and lesbian writing in 2008.
Arur Singh Shergill was a Sikh magistrate and civil judge who served as the manager of Darbar Sahib and the Akal Takht, as a sarbarah appointed by the British Raj from 1907 to 1920.
Nick Lloyd FRHS, is Professor of Modern Warfare at King's College London. He has written several books on the First World War.
Kim Ati Wagner is a Danish-British historian of colonial India and the British Empire at Queen Mary University of London. He has written a number of books on India, starting with Thuggee: Banditry and the British in early nineteenth-century India in 2007. He followed that up with a source book on Thuggee and has also written on the uprising of 1857 and the Amritsar massacre. A British citizen, Wagner feels an affinity for India.
Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre (2019), is a book by Kim A. Wagner and published by Yale University Press, that aims to dispel myths surrounding the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place in Amritsar, India, on 13 April 1919.
The Patient Assassin, A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj is a 2019 book based on the life of Indian revolutionary Udham Singh. Authored by Anita Anand, it was published by Simon & Schuster UK in April 2019 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre in Amritsar, India.