DYER, REGINALD EDWARD HARRY

born Oct. 9, 1864, Murree, India died July 23, 1927, Long Ashton, near Bristol, Eng. British general remembered for his brutal handling of the riots at Amritsar, India, in 1919. Dyer was commissioned in the West Surrey Regiment in 1885 and subsequently transferred to the Indian Army. He campaigned in Burma in 188687 and took part in a blockade of Waziristan in 190102. During World War I (191418) he had charge of the Eastern Persian cordon, the purpose of which was to prevent German crossings into Afghanistan. Dyer was brigade commander at Jullundur during the Massacre of Amritsar (q.v.; April 13, 1919), when his troops killed 379 unarmed Indian protesters in an enclosed area, apparently in retaliation for the killing of four Europeans and the beating of a woman missionary. As a result Dyer was removed from command into enforced retirement. The matter received international attention, and Indian nationalists turned the site into a martyrs' memorial.