Ruler
Michael O'Dwyer
ਓ'ਡਵਾਇਰ
Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab who endorsed the Amritsar shooting and imposed martial law. Shot dead in London by Udham Singh in 1940.
Michael O'Dwyer was born in 1864 in Ireland and served as Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab from 1913 to 1919. He was determined to crush any sign of unrest: he suppressed the Ghadar movement in 1915 with mass trials and hangings, and pressed Punjabi recruits into the army.
In April 1919 he endorsed Dyer's massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, cabling that his action was correct, and imposed martial law across the Punjab, with public floggings and bombing of crowds from the air at Gujranwala.
On 13 March 1940 Udham Singh shot him dead at a meeting at Caxton Hall in London.
