Udham Singh-The Avenger of the Amritsar Massacre

Udham Singh-The Avenger of the Amritsar Massacre

Udham Singh biography

1. Name- Udham Singh
2. Known for- Contribution to Indian freedom movement and avenging Jallianwala bagh massacre
3. Organizations
   • Ghadar Party
   • Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA)
   • Indian Workers’ association
4. Birth name- Sher Singh

Personal life

1. Important dates
   • Birthday- 26 March 1899
   • Obit day-  31 July 1940
2. Important places
   • Place of birth- Sunam, Punjab (British India)
   • Obit place- Pentonville Prison (United Kingdom

Lesser known facts

1. Udham Singh lost his parents very early in life. After their death, he and his elder brother went to the ‘Central Khalsa Orphanage’ in Amritsar where he went through the Sikh initiatory rites and got the name Udham Singh.
2. He became involved in Indian freedom movement very early and he was extremely influenced by Sardar Bhagat Singh.
3. Udham Singh was arrested very early in life by police for possessing unlicensed firearms and was sentenced to five years in prison. On getting released in 1931, he went to Kashmir and later escaped to Germany. Finally he reached London where his plan was to assassinate Michael O’Dwyer who was responsible for Jallianwala bagh massacre.
4. During Jallianwala bagh massacre, General Dyer had ordered his troops to fire on the protesting assembled crowd without provocation. This led to the death of an estimated 1500 people with over 1,200 people getting injured. The assassination carried out by Udham Singh is considered to be the avenging of the massacre.
5. After the assassination, he went on a 42-day hunger strike while he was in prison and had to be forcibly fed by the authorities.
6. For killing General dyer , Udham Singh was sentenced to death and hanged at Pentonville Prison in 1940.
7. Mahatma Gandhi actually condemned the assassination and said in press releases that he regarded it as an act of insanity.
8. In 1974, his remains were repatriated to India and received by Prime minister Indira Gandhi, Shankar Dayal Sharma and Gyani Zail Singh.
9. Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand had been named after him in October 1995.
10. His life has been a subject for a number of films like Jallian Wala Bagh and Shaheed Uddham Singh.