Michael O'Dwyer
Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Michael O'Dwyer was the British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab from 1913 to 1919. A Lieutenant-Governor was the top British official who ran a province. His rule was harsh. Punjab was made to give many soldiers for the First World War and got no reward. In 1919 Punjab protested strongly against the Rowlatt Act, a law that let the government keep people in jail without trial. O'Dwyer crushed these protests. He supported the Jallianwala Bagh firing and the martial law that followed. Martial law means rule by the army instead of ordinary law.
Example
After the firing at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13 April 1919, O'Dwyer defended General Dyer's action. Twenty years later, on 13 March 1940, Udham Singh shot O'Dwyer dead at Caxton Hall in London.
Don't confuse with
- Reginald Dyer: the army officer who ordered the firing at Jallianwala Bagh. O'Dwyer was the civilian head of the province who backed him.
Related concepts
- Satyagraha
- Rajkumar Shukla
- Champaran satyagraha
- Tinkathia system
- Ahmedabad mill strike
- Kheda satyagraha
- Mahadev Desai
- Rowlatt Act
- Rowlatt satyagraha
- Jallianwala Bagh massacre