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{{Short description|British colonial administrator (1864–1940)}}
{{about||the Irish academic|Michael O'Dwyer (academic)|the Irish hurler|Michael O'Dwyer (hurler)}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Michael O'Dwyer
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCIE|KCSI}}
| image = Sir Michael Francis O'Dwyer (died 1940).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Sir Michael O'Dwyer
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 28 April 1864
| birth_place = Barronstown, [[Limerick Junction, County Tipperary]], Ireland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|03|13|1864|04|28|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Caxton Hall, Westminster]], London, England
| death_cause = Gunshot fired by [[Udham Singh]]
| resting_place = [[Brookwood Cemetery]]
| resting_place_coordinates =
| other_names =
| alma_mater = [[Balliol College, Oxford]]
| occupation = Colonial Administrator
| years_active =
| employer = British government of India
| organization = [[Indian Civil Service]]
| agent =
| known_for = *[[Defence of India Act 1915]]
*Administering martial law in Punjab, [[British India]] (April and June 1919)
*[[List of governors of Punjab (British India)|Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab]] (1913 and 1919) during the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]]
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
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| boards =
| religion = 
| denomination = 
| spouse = Dame Una O'Dwyer
| partner =
| children = 2
| parents =
| module = {{Infobox officeholder
| embed = yes
| office = Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab
| term_start = 26 May 1913
| term_end = 26 May 1919 }}
}}
'''Sir Michael Francis O'Dwyer''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCIE|KCSI}} (28 April 1864 – 13 March 1940), was an Irish [[Indian Civil Service]] (ICS) officer and later the [[List of governors of Punjab (British India)|Lieutenant Governor of Punjab]], [[British India]] between 1913 and 1919.

It was during O'Dwyer's tenure as Punjab's Lieutenant Governor that the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] occurred in [[Amritsar]], on 13 April 1919. As a result, his actions are considered one of the most significant factors in the rise of the [[Indian independence movement]]. O'Dwyer endorsed [[Reginald Dyer]]'s action at [[Jallianwala Bagh]], making it clear that he felt Dyer's orders to shoot at the crowds was correct. He subsequently administered [[martial law]] in [[Punjab Province (British India) | 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 spread of political agitation.

In 1940, in retaliation for the massacre, O'Dwyer was assassinated by the Indian revolutionary [[Udham Singh]].

==Early life and education==
Michael Francis O'Dwyer was born on 28 April 1864 in [[List of townlands of County Tipperary|Barronstown]], [[Limerick Junction]], [[County Tipperary]], to John, a landowner of Barronstown, Solohead, and Margaret (née Quirke) O'Dwyer, of Toem; both County Tipperary, Ireland. He was the sixth son in a family of fourteen children,<ref name="Woods">{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-35292|title=O'Dwyer, Sir Michael Francis (1864–1940)|last=Woods|first=Philip|year=2004|isbn=0-19-861391-1|location=Oxford|pages=538–539|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35292|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Singh2016">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2q3qDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|title=A Great Patriot and Martyr Udham Singh|last=Singh|first=Sikander|publisher=[[Unistar Books]]|year=2016|isbn=978-8189899592|pages=71–74}}</ref> and brought up without any feeling for [[Irish nationalism]] or support for the [[Young Ireland|Young Ireland Movement]].<ref name="Anand2019pp.19">{{cite book|last=Anand|first=Anita|title=The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India's Quest for Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AoCaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|year=2019|publisher=Scribner|location=New York|pages=19–29|isbn=978-1-5011-9570-9}}</ref> At the age of seven he was sent to be schooled at [[St Stanislaus College]], [[Rahan, County Offaly|Rahan]], [[County Offaly]].<ref name="Woods" />

Later, he attended Mr Wren's [[cram school|educational crammer school]] in [[Powis Square, London]], and subsequently passed the open entrance competition for the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1882.<ref name=Sykes1940>{{Cite journal|last=Sykes|first=P. M.|date=1 April 1940|title=Obituary|journal=Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society|volume=27|issue=2|pages=246–252|doi=10.1080/03068374008730964|issn=0035-8789}}</ref> After completing two years of probation at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], he passed the final examination in 1884 in fourth place overall. At the time, the ICS examination was highly competitive with no more than 1200 ICS officers in office at one time, and he was likely influenced by the reputations of the likes of [[John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence|Lord Lawrence]], one of the first British civil administrators in India.<ref name="Woods" /><ref name="Anand2019pp.19"/> In his third year he obtained a first class in [[jurisprudence]].<ref name="Woods"/> [[Philip Mason|Philip Woodruff]] has written of O'Dwyer's upbringing:

<blockquote>Michael O'Dwyer was one of the fourteen children of an unknown Irish land-owner of no great wealth, as much farmer as landlord. He was brought up in a world of hunting and snipe-shooting, of threatening letters and houghed cattle, where you were for the Government or against it, where you passed every day the results of lawlessness in the blackened walls of empty houses. It was a world very different from the mild and ordered life of southern England...One gets the impression [of O'Dwyer when at Balliol] of a man who seldom opened a book without a purpose, whose keen hard brain acquired quickly and did not forget but had little time for subtleties.<ref>Philip Woodruff, ''The Men Who Ruled India. Volume II: The Guardians'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1954), p. 236.</ref></blockquote>

In 1882 in Ireland, his family home was fired upon by [[Irish nationalism|Irish Nationalists]] and the following year his father died following a second stroke.<ref name="Anand2019pp.19"/> Of his siblings, two served in India and two became Jesuit priests.<ref name="RIA" />

==Early career==
In 1885 he travelled to India<ref name=RIA>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ria.ie/news/dictionary-irish-biography/dib-and-century-ireland|title=The DIB and Century Ireland|date=13 April 2019|website=Royal Irish Academy|language=en|access-date=8 December 2019}}</ref> as an ICS officer and was first posted to [[Shahpur (Punjab)|Shahpur]] in [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]].<ref name=Mittalp.71-78>[[Satish Chandra Mittal|Mittal, Satish Chandra]] (1977). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ds3Pq3AAqeAC&pg=PA7 ''Freedom Movement in Punjab (1905-29)'']. Delhi: [[Concept Publishing Company]]. pp. 71-78. {{OCLC|3801970}}</ref> He distinguished himself in land revenue settlement work, and in 1896 was made director of land records and agriculture in Punjab. Subsequently, he was placed in charge of the settlements of [[Alwar]] and [[Bharatpur, India|Bharatpur]] states.<ref name="Woods"/>

After a year and a half of travels around Europe and Russia,<ref name=Anand2019pp.19/> he was selected by [[Lord Curzon]] for a significant role in the organisation of the new [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|North-West Frontier Province]] and its separation from Punjab. From 1901 to 1908 he was revenue commissioner, from 1908 through 1909 he was acting resident in [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]] and from 1910 to 1912 he was agent to the governor-general in [[Central India]].<ref name="Woods"/>

In December 1912, during [[Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst|Lord Hardinge of Penshurst]]'s tenure as [[Viceroy]], O'Dwyer was appointed [[Lieutenant Governor]] of Punjab.<ref name="Woods"/> When he assumed charge in May 1913, he was appointed a [[Order of the Star of India|Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]<ref name=Jackson2004>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0eQTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA140|title=Ireland and the British Empire|last=Jackson|first=Alvin|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-925183-4|editor-last=Kenny|editor-first=Kevin|pages=140|language=en|chapter=5. Ireland, the Union, and the Empire, 1800-1960}}</ref> and was cautioned by the Viceroy Penshurst that "the Punjab was the Province about which the Government were then the most concerned; that there was much inflammable material lying about; which required very careful handling if an explosion was to be avoided".<ref name="Woods" /><ref name=Mittalp.71-78/>

===First World War recruitment===
O'Dwyer worked closely with the military authorities and sought the aid of local rural Punjabi leaders to organise a centralised system for the recruitment of soldiers for the [[First World War]] effort, in exchange for compensation, including major land grants and formal titles.<ref name=Marston2014>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZR9GAwAAQBAJ&q=Alfred+Draper,+The+Massacre+that+Ended+the+Raj,+London,+1981.&pg=PA38|title=The Indian Army and the End of the Raj|last=Marston|first=Daniel|date=2014|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-89975-8|pages=15|language=en}}</ref><ref name=Tan2005p.15>[[Tan Tai Yong|Yong, Tan Tai]] (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=d5ZiMV7rqWUC&pg=PA1924 ''The Garrison State: Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947'']. New Delhi: [[SAGE Publications]]. p. 15. {{isbn|978-0-7619-3336-6}}</ref> As a result, most of the recruits were drawn from rural areas of the Punjab, ultimately leaving a number of families without their breadwinners. Those that returned from the war aspired to a reward and a better life.<ref name="Singh2016"/> This co-operation between the civil and military leaders and the leading rural Punjabis, as later described by the historian [[Tan Tai Yong]], laid "the foundations of a militarized bureaucracy in colonial Punjab".<ref name=Marston2014/><ref name=Tan2005p.15/>

Of the Indian recruits for the War from the whole of India, the 360,000 from the Punjab were more than half. In 1917, O'Dwyer's efforts in recruiting Punjabi men for the war effort earned him appointment as a [[Order of the Indian Empire|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Indian Empire]],<ref name="Woods"/><ref name=Jackson2004/> when India's Viceroy was [[Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford|Lord Chelmsford]].<ref name=Tan2005p.111-112>[https://books.google.com/books?id=d5ZiMV7rqWUC&pg=PA1924 Tan, 2005, pp. 111-112]</ref> However, during the war there was also a growing [[Indian Home Rule movement|home rule movement]].<ref name="Woods"/>

===Defence of India Act 1915===
He played a significant role in persuading the British government in India to pass the [[Defence of India Act 1915|1915 Defence of India Act]],<ref name="Woods"/> which gave him considerable powers. Passed on 18 March 1915, the Act allowed special tribunals for revolutionary crimes to take place, without possibilities for appeal.<ref name=Mittalp.96-98>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ds3Pq3AAqeAC&pg=PA96 Mittal, 1977, pp. 96-98]</ref>

He opposed the [[Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms]], fearing that his efforts in recruitment through the rural leaders would be destroyed by increasing powers to “urban elites”.<ref name=Tan2005p.21>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZR9GAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 Tan, 2005, pp. 21]</ref>

===Surveillance 1919===
From mid-March 1919, under O’Dwyer's orders, the CID in Amritsar kept a close surveillance of two Gandhian non-violent [[Indian nationalism|Indian nationalists]], the Muslim barrister [[Saifuddin Kitchlew]] and the Hindu physician Dr. [[Satyapal]]. O'Dwyer subsequently summoned them both to Deputy Commissioner [[Miles Irving]]'s house in the [[Civil Lines]] on 10 April 1919, from where they were arrested and secretly escorted to [[Dharamasala]], at the foot of the [[Himalayas]] to be kept under house arrest.<ref name=Mittalp.120>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ds3Pq3AAqeAC&pg=PA96 Mittal, 1977, pp. 120]</ref><ref name=Wagnerp.74-76>[[Kim A. Wagner|Wagner, Kim A.]] (2019) [https://books.google.com/books?id=bziIDwAAQBAJ ''Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre'']. New Haven: [[Yale University Press]]. pp.74-76. {{ISBN|9780300200355}}</ref><ref name=Anand2015>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5SlBAAAQBAJ&q=satypal+dr+1919&pg=PA332|title=Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary|last=Anand|first=Anita|date=2015|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|isbn=9781408835463|pages=331–332|language=en}}</ref> As the news of the arrest became widespread, supporters began to gather near Irving's home and what initially began as a peaceful attempt to make enquiries ended up in a violent clash.<ref name=Anand2019pp.81-83>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AoCaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 Anand, ''The Patient Assassin'' (2019). pp.81-83]</ref><ref name=Wagnerp.126-127>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bziIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 Wagner, 2019, pp. 126-127.]</ref> On 13 April 1919, a meeting was called to take place at Jallianwala Bagh, to protest over the arrest.<ref name=Anand2015/>

==Amritsar massacre==
{{main|Jallianwala Bagh massacre}}
It was during O'Dwyer's tenure as Lieutenant Governor of Punjab that the Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred in [[Amritsar]], on 13 April 1919, three days after the onset of the riots.<ref name=Wagnerp.74-76/><ref name=Lloyd2010>{{Cite journal|last=Lloyd|first=Nick|date=1 December 2010|title=Sir Michael O'Dwyer and 'Imperial Terrorism' in the Punjab, 1919|journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies|volume=33|issue=3|pages=363–380|doi=10.1080/00856401.2010.520648|s2cid=143000538|issn=0085-6401}}</ref> According to British estimates, 379 unarmed civilians were killed by [[Gurkha]] troops under the command of Brigadier General [[Reginald Dyer]]. Some estimates are greater, with more than 1500 casualties.<ref name=Datta2012>[[Vishwa Nath Datta|V. N. Datta]], ''Jallianwala Bagh'' (Ludhiana, 1969), pp. 104–105.</ref> O'Dwyer was informed of the event at 3 am the following day.<ref name=Sahni2012>{{Cite journal|last=Sahni|first=Binda|date=1 May 2012|title=Effects of Emergency Law in India 1915-1931|journal=Studies on Asia|series=IV|url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6fwiiQn1BVYJ:https://www.eiu.edu/studiesonasia/documents/seriesIV/Sahni_Studies_Oct2012.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari|language=en|location=Rochester, New York|volume=2|pages=146–179|ssrn=2174900}}</ref> When he received Dyer's initial report, O'Dwyer gave permission to [[Sir William George Lawrence Beynon|General Beynon]] to send a telegram to Dyer which stated "your action correct and the lieutenant-governor approves".<ref name=RIA/><ref name=O'Dwyer1925p.286>O'Dwyer, Michael (1925). [https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.13879/page/n5 ''India as I knew it'']. Constable and Company. p. 286.</ref>

O'Dwyer and several other senior officials and military officers supported Dyer's actions both initially when only limited information was received and later when more detailed information of the scale of the killings became available.<ref name="Woods"/> Subsequently, [[martial law]] was imposed on 15 April and was back dated to 30 March.<ref name=Sayer1991>{{Cite journal|last=Sayer|first=Derek|date=May 1991|title=British Reaction to the Amritsar Massacre 1919-1920|url=https://www.academia.edu/4297399|journal=[[Past & Present (journal)|Past and Present]]|language=en|volume=131|issue=131|pages=130–164|via=JSTOR|doi=10.1093/past/131.1.130}}</ref> As a result, his actions are considered one of the most significant factors in the rise of the [[Indian independence movement]] led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]].<ref name="Woods"/> On 21 April 1919, in Dyer's defence, O'Dwyer stated to Viceroy Chelmsford "the Amritsar business cleared the air, and if there was to be holocaust anywhere, and one regrets that there should be, it was best at Amritsar".<ref name=Wagnerp.256>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bziIDwAAQBAJ Wagner, 2019, p. 256]</ref>

One theory surrounding the Massacre, as described by Pearay Mohan<ref name=Mohanp.118-120>Mohan, Pearay. (1920) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15881/page/n3 ''An Imaginary Rebellion'']. Lahore: Khosla Bros. pp. 118-120.</ref> and historian Raja Ram, is one of a "premeditated plan" conspired by O'Dwyer and others, including a young Punjabi youth [[Hans Raj (approver)|Hans Raj]].<ref name=Ram1969>Ram, Raja (1969). [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.118397/page/n1 ''Jallianwala Bagh Massacre – A Pre-Mediated Plan'']. Chandigarh: Punjab University.</ref><ref name="Lloyd2011">{{cite book|last=Lloyd|first=Nick |title=The Amritsar Massacre: The Untold Story of One Fateful Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhCMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA212|year=2011|publisher=I. B. Taris|location=London|isbn=978-1-84885-723-0|page=44}}</ref><ref name=Draper1981>{{Cite book|title=Amritsar, the massacre that ended the Raj|last=Draper|first=Alfred|publisher=Cassell|year=1981|isbn=0304304816|oclc = 17439957}}</ref> Other historians including Nick Lloyd,<ref name="Lloyd2011"/> K. L. Tuteja,<ref name=Tutja>K. L. Tuteja, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3517759?seq=1 "Jallianwala Bagh: A Critical Juncture in the Indian National Movement"]. ''[[Social Scientist]]''. Vol. 25, No. 1/2 (January 1997 – February 1997), pp. 25-61. {{subscription required}}</ref> [[Anita Anand (journalist)]]<ref name="Anand2019pp.327">[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mk7ptwEACAAJ Anand, 2019, p. 327]</ref> and [[Kim A. Wagner]] have found this theory lacking evidence, and that neither was there a conspiracy or that Hans Raj was an "[[agent provocateur]]".<ref name=Wagnerp200-208>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bziIDwAAQBAJ Wagner, 2019, pp. 200–208.]</ref>

O'Dwyer had contended without evidence that Dyer's violent suppression of the civilian demonstration was justified because the illegal gathering was part of a premeditated conspiracy to rebellion, timed supposedly to coincide with a rumoured Afghan invasion.<ref>[[Ian Colvin]], ''The Life of General Dyer'' (London, 1931).</ref><ref name=McGreevy2019>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/india-s-amritsar-massacre-bore-the-made-in-ireland-mark-1.3856007|title=India's Amritsar massacre bore the 'made in Ireland' mark|last=McGreevy|first=Ronan|date=13 April 2019|website=[[The Irish Times]]|language=en|access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref>

Although O'Dwyer had implemented martial law in the Punjab, he denied responsibility for the consequences on the grounds that the government had relieved him of its general implementation. However he could not disclaim responsibility for the decision, after severe rioting in [[Gujranwala]], to send an aeroplane to bomb and strafe the area. During the course of the operation at least a dozen people, including children present, were killed.<ref name="Woods"/>

The next year, on 24 June 1920, the opposition Labour Party Conference at [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]] unanimously passed a resolution which denounced the 'cruel and barbarous actions' of British officers in Punjab and demanded their trial, the dismissal of O'Dwyer and Chelmsford, and the repeal of the repressive legislation. The delegates rose in their places as a tribute to those killed at Jallianwala Bagh.<ref name="Sayer1991" /> After the Punjab disturbances, O'Dwyer was relieved of his office. Subsequently, the Secretary of State for India, [[Edwin Montagu]], condemned O'Dwyer's severity, including his policy of communal punishment.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} O'Dwyer's response to the Amritsar troubles was that that was "what comes of having that Jew in Whitehall", referring to Montagu.<ref name=Purnima2003>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7eypXVnabIC&pg=PT241|title=Organizing Empire: Individualism, Collective Agency, and India|last=Bose|first=Purnima|date=2003|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8223-8488-5|location=Durham & London|pages=229|language=en|chapter=Notes}}</ref>

==O'Dwyer vs Nair trial==
In 1922, [[C. Sankaran Nair|Sir Sankaran Nair]] referred to O'Dwyer in his book, ''Gandhi and Anarchy'', stating that "before the reforms it was in the power of the Lieutenant-Governor, a single individual, to commit the atrocities in the Punjab which we know only too well".<ref name=Collett2006>{{Cite journal|last=Collett|first=Lieutenant Colonel Nigel A|date=July 2006|title=The Jallianwala Bagh Revisited – II|url=https://usiofindia.org/publication/usi-journal/the-jallianwala-bagh-revisited-ii-2/|journal=The United Service Institution of India}}</ref><ref name=Collett2011>{{Cite journal|last=Collett|first=Nigel A.|date=2011|title=The O'Dwyer v. Nair Libel Case of 1924: New Evidence Concerning Indian Attitudes and British Intelligence During the 1919 Punjab Disturbances|journal=[[Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society]]|volume=21|issue=4|pages=469–483|issn=1356-1863|jstor=41490046|doi=10.1017/S1356186311000435}}{{subscription required}}</ref> O'Dwyer subsequently successfully sued Nair for [[English defamation law|libel]] and was awarded £500 damages.<ref name="Sayer1991" /><ref name="McGreevy2019" /><ref name=Palat2019>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGeqDwAAQBAJ&q=Lady+Madhavan+Nair+(&pg=PT168|title=The Case That Shook the Empire: One Man's Fight for the Truth about the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre|last1=Palat|first1=Raghu|last2=Palat|first2=Pushpa|date=2019|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|isbn=978-93-89000-29-0|language=en}}</ref> Heard before [[Henry McCardie|Justice McCardie]] in the Court of King's Bench in [[London]] over five weeks, beginning on 30 April 1924, it was one of the longest [[Civil law (common law)|civil law]] hearings in legal history. O'Dwyer saw the trial as a way of providing justifications for Dyer's actions at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.<ref name=Collett2006/>

==Assassination==
[[File:Michael O'Dwyer's Grave at Brookwood Cemetery.JPG|thumb|right|The grave of Michael O'Dwyer in [[Brookwood Cemetery]]]]
O'Dwyer, aged 75, was shot dead at a joint meeting of the East India Association and the Central Asian Society (now [[Royal Society for Asian Affairs]]) in [[Caxton Hall]] in [[Westminster]], London, on 13 March 1940, by an Indian activist, [[Udham Singh]], in retaliation for the massacre in Amritsar.<ref name="Woods" /><ref name=Kaur2008>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2fsqHxZTZr4C&pg=PA19|title=Independence|last=Kaur|first=Kanwalpreet|publisher=Sanbun Publishers|year=2008|isbn=978-81-89540-80-7|location=New Delhi|pages=19|language=en}}</ref>

O'Dwyer was hit by two bullets and died instantly. [[Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland|Lord Zetland]], the [[Secretary of State for India]], was presiding over the meeting and was wounded. Zetland, recovering from his injuries, later opted for early retirement from his position of Secretary of State for India and was succeeded by [[Leo Amery]] as [[Secretary of State for India]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Wolpert, Stanley|title=Jinnah of Pakistan|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Karachi, Pakistan|isbn=978-0-19-577389-7|page=186|edition=15|author-link=Stanley Wolpert}}</ref> Udham Singh made no attempt to escape and was arrested at the scene.<ref name=Kaur2008/> O'Dwyer was later buried in [[Brookwood Cemetery]] near [[Woking]].

At his trial, Singh told the court:{{quote|"I did it because I had a grudge against him. He deserved it. He was the real culprit. He wanted to crush the spirit of my people, so I have crushed him. For full 21 years, I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy that I have done the job. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. I have seen my people starving in India under the British rule. I have protested against this, it was my duty. What a greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland?"}}

==Personal and family==
He married Una Eunice, daughter of Antoine Bord of [[Castres]], France, on 21 November 1896. The couple had two children.<ref name="Woods"/>

O'Dwyer's wife, Una, established 'Lady O'Dwyer's Punjab Comforts Fund',<ref>Wilson, A.T. 1931. Mesopotamia, 1917-1920: A Clash of Loyalties; A Personal and Historical Record. London, UK: Oxford University Press.</ref> one of several charitable organisations created in India during the First World War to raise money and other gifts to provide comforts for troops serving with the Indian Army. She was created a [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]<ref>London Gazette, 3 June 1919, p.7051</ref> in her own right in the [[1919 Birthday Honours]], in which their daughter, Una Mary O'Dwyer, was created a [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]].<ref>London Gazette, 3 June 1919, p.7055</ref>

==Writing==
In his book ''[[India as I knew it]]'' (1925), O'Dwyer disclosed that his time as administrator in Punjab was preoccupied by the threat of terrorism and spread of political agitation.<ref name="Woods"/>

In 1933, he published ''The O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh: The History of an Irish Sept'',<ref name=IrishFamilies>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZt3oGtk1KgC&pg=PA90|title=The Book of Irish Families, Great & Small|last=O'Laughlin|first=Michael C.|date=1997|publisher=Irish Roots Cafe|isbn=0-940134-09-8|edition=3rd|volume=1|location=Kansas City|pages=90|language=en}}</ref> a historical and [[genealogy|genealogical]] treatise detailing the O'Dwyer (Ó Duibhir) noble family who had commanded the area around [[Thurles]] from the pre-[[Hiberno-Norman|Norman]] era until losing their castles and land during the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|Cromwellian confiscations]] of the 17th century. It was republished in the 21st century with the title ''The History of the O'Dwyers''.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

In later life, he wrote frequently to ''[[The Times]]'', condemning the Gandhian non-cooperation movement and endorsing British rule in India.<ref name="Woods"/>

===Selected publications===
====Articles====
*[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1781310?seq=1 "Border Countries of the Punjab Himalaya: Discussion"]. ''[[The Geographical Journal]]''. Vol. 60, No. 4 (1922), pp. 264–68. {{doi|10.2307/1781310}}. Co-authored with Louis Dane and W. Coldstream.
*[https://search.proquest.com/openview/fe20cc0b67d21f807a760c01ab816698/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1816417 "Races and Religions in the Punjab"]. [[Journal of the Royal Society of Arts]], London. Vol. 74, Issue 3827 (26 March 1926), pp. 420–449.

====Books====
*[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.13879/page/n1 ''India as I knew it'']. London: Constable & Company (1925)
*[https://www.worldcat.org/title/odwyers-of-kilnamanagh-the-history-of-an-irish-sept/oclc/8381000 ''The O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh: The History of an Irish Sept''], London: [[John Murray (publishing house)|J. Murray]], (1933). {{OCLC|8381000}}
*[https://www.worldcat.org/title/fusion-of-anglo-norman-and-gael/oclc/866019570&referer=brief_results ''Fusion of Anglo Norman and Gael'']. London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, (1938?). {{OCLC|866019570}}

====Book chapters====
*[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-349-05106-9_18 "Kipling — "Some Recollections""]. In: Orel H. (eds) Kipling. London: [[Palgrave Macmillan]], (1983). {{isbn|978-1-349-05108-3}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Singh, Navtej Singh and Jouhl, Avtar Singh (2002). ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/emergence-of-the-image-redact-documents-of-udham-singh/oclc/50004335 Emergence of the Image: Redact Documents of Udham Singh]''. New Delhi: National Book Organisation.
*Singh, Sikander (1998). [https://www.worldcat.org/title/udham-singh-alias-ram-mohammed-singh-azad-a-saga-of-the-freedom-movement-and-jallianwala-bagh/oclc/40820861 ''Udham Singh, alias, Ram Mohammed Singh Azad: A great patriot and martyr who challenged the British imperialism : a saga of the freedom movement and Jallianwala Bagh'']. Amritsar: B. Chattar Singh Jiwan Singh. {{isbn|9788176011761}}
*Nair, Lady Madhavan (1966). ''[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofs00sirc/page/n7 ''Autobiography of Sir C. Sankaran Nair''].

==External links==
*[https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1919-08-06/debates/41f2ea34-12a2-4d07-a00b-d1b7c247cb85/OralAnswersToQuestions House of Commons]. 6 August 1919 Volume 119
*[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/mar/14/sir-michael-odwyer-assassination Sir Michael O'Dwyer (assassination)]. HC Deb 14 March 1940 vol 358 cc1372-3
* {{PM20|FID=pe/022723}}
* {{cite TIWW |article=O'Dwyer, Sir Michael Francis |page=188 }}

{{Governors of Punjab (British India)}}
{{Authority control}}

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Michael O'Dwyer - Revision history

2405:201:400F:853:5092:A4E5:30D1:9BCC at 12:26, 30 August 2021