General Dyer’s unrequested command, mysterious death of his brigade major: some lesser-known details about Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Any clinical examination of General Dyer’s actions in Amritsar must be examined first in light of his military career. He was commissioned into the Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey) as a lieutenant before transferring to the Indian Army. He initially joined the Bengal Staff Corps in 1887 but later moved to the 29th Punjabis. He later served with 25th Punjabis, too, and therefore, he was not a stranger to the Punjabi psyche. Having been born and brought up in India also ensured that he knew the Hindustani language better than an average British officer.

He served extensively in northwestern India, as was the norm at the time, and during World War 1, he was commander of the Seistan Force in Persia. Though he received mention in despatches and made a Companion of the Bath (CB) during this tenure, there are uncharitable references to his manner of conducting operations and that his superiors were glad to have seen the last of him in that theatre.

Dyer, commanding a brigade in Jalandhar, was not chosen by his Divisional Commander, Major General Sir William Beynon, to be in Amritsar to take command of the law and order situation developing there.

Lt Colonel MHL Morgan, commanding officer of the 1/124th Baluchis, was asked to go to Amritsar as soon as possible and regain control of the city. As per the account written by Kim A Wagner in his work titled Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre, Morgan travelled to Amritsar that evening, unsure of the situation that would confront him, but expecting the worst.

“When he arrived he found – to his complete surprise – that he was not the only senior officer present: Brigadier General Dyer, the commander at Jullunder, was there too. Because he was no longer the senior officer present, Morgan suggested that he should return to Lahore, but Dyer disagreed and ordered Morgan to stay in the city for the time being,” writes Wagner.

The officers and troops involved in massacre

There is much speculation on the officers and troops who were part of the group which took part in the actual massacre at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919. Dyer was not the sole officer present. Among others was Capt FCC Briggs, Brigade Major of 45 Brigade, which Dyer commanded.

Lt Colonel MHL Morgan was also present, along with Amritsar Superintendent of Police JF Rehill and Deputy Superintendent of Police Reginald Plomer. Captain Gerry Crampton of 1/9 Gurkha Rifles was also accompanying the party.

As per the history of the 9th Gurkha Rifles, written by Lt Colonel FS Poynder and first published in 1937, the 1/9 Gurkha Rifles were on their way to Peshawar. The Depot, together with the families, was ordered to join the Battalion in Peshawar, and left Dehra about the middle of April.

This was because the amalgamation of the Battalion and Depot was necessary, as the strength of the Battalion, owing to earlier demobilisation and leave, had fallen to 350.

“The troop train containing the Depot under the command of Captain G. P. Crampton arrived at Amritsar Station when the Amritsar riots were taking place and the Depot was instructed to detrain to help to restore order,” writes Lt Col Poynder.

He states that the Battalion had handed in all arms at its previous station, Dehra, and thus had no rifles when they deboarded. Fifty men were, therefore, marched to the Gobindgarh Fort near Amritsar, and rifles and ammunition were issued there.

“On April 13th a prohibited mob gathered in the Jallianwalah Bagh in defiance of orders, and General Dyer, with twenty-five riflemen, each from the Depot and 59th Rifles, proceeded rapidly to the spot and dispersed the mob by rifle fire. This virtually ended the rebellion throughout the Punjab and the Depot proceeded to Peshawar and re-joined the Battalion,” the history of 1/9 Gurkha Rifles reads.

“Their conduct and discipline in this most unpleasant incident were the subject of several laudatory and congratulatory letters, and there is no doubt that the men behaved in an exemplary manner in a most trying and distasteful episode,” it adds.

Dyer’s Brigade Major, Captain FCC Briggs, was said to have died of typhoid (or appendicitis) at Bannu. Wagner notes that Briggs died on the operating table three days after Dyer had appeared before the Hunter Committee. A book on the Jallianwala Bagh titled Six Minutes to Sunset makes a claim that Briggs was murdered by having ground glass put in his food.

“Whether or not this was the case is impossible to say, but his sudden (and untimely) death is strange given that he had previously been in good health and was only 29 years old,” writes Wagner.

Dyer’s conduct immediately after Jallianwala Bagh

Wagner, who is more charitable to Dyer than many other authors, says those who saw Dyer after he returned from the Jallianwala Bagh all tell the same story: that he was unnerved and deeply upset about what had happened.

“One witness recorded that Dyer was ‘distraught’ and apparently Miles Irving (Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar) found him ‘all dazed and shaken up’. The sight of the previously imperturbable general now visibly traumatised made a deep impression upon those who were at the Ram Bagh; his shaking hands struggling to light the cigarettes that he always seemed to be smoking,” he notes.

Edward Thompson, an ICS officer, claimed that during a dinner party with Miles Irving many years later, he had asked the Deputy Commissioner what Dyer had said to him about returning from the Bagh.

“Irving replied, ‘Dyer came to me all dazed and shaken up, and said, ‘I never knew that there was no way out’.’ One of the others present, F.G. Puckle (Financial Secretary to the Punjab Government), also said that Dyer had told him, about six months after the massacre, ‘I haven’t had a night’s sleep since that happened. I keep on seeing it all over again’,” mentions Wagner.

Over a period of time, Dyer regained his composure, and as his testimony before the Hunter Commission proves, he showed no remorse either before it or in his subsequent utterances. Testifying before it, he said in answer to a question that the situation was ‘very, very serious’ and that he had made up his mind to ‘do all men to death’ if they were going to continue the meeting.