Michael O'Dwyer | |
|---|---|
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| Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab | |
| In office 26 May 1913 – 26 May 1919 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 April 1864 Barronstown, Limerick Junction, County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 13 March 1940 (aged 75) Caxton Hall, Westminster, London, England |
| Manner of death | Assassination by gunshot |
| Resting place | Brookwood Cemetery |
| Spouse | Una Eunice Bord |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Colonial Administrator |
| Known for |
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Sir Michael Francis O'Dwyer GCIE KCSI (28 April 1864 – 13 March 1940) was an Irish colonial officer in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and later the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, British India, between 1913 and 1919.
During O'Dwyer's tenure as Punjab's Lieutenant Governor, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred in Amritsar, on 13 April 1919. As a result, his actions are considered among the most significant factors in the rise of the Indian independence movement. 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 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 terrorism and the spread of political agitation. In 1940, in retaliation for the massacre, O'Dwyer was assassinated by the Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh.