Shaheed Udham Singh: from Jallianwala Bagh to Pentonville

This day remembers Sardar Udham Singh, who was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London on 31 July 1940 for the killing of Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the man who had governed Punjab at the time of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

An orphan of Sunam

Udham Singh was born in 1899 at Sunam, in today's Sangrur district, and lost both parents young. He and his brother were raised at the Central Khalsa Orphanage in Amritsar, where he grew up close to Sri Harmandir Sahib.

Jallianwala Bagh

On Vaisakhi, 13 April 1919, thousands gathered at Jallianwala Bagh, a walled garden near Sri Harmandir Sahib, many of them pilgrims for the festival. Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer marched in troops, blocked the exit and ordered them to fire into the crowd without warning. Hundreds were killed and many more wounded. The Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O'Dwyer, endorsed the firing. Udham Singh, then a young man, is remembered as having vowed to answer it.

Caxton Hall

For years he moved between India, Africa, America and England, joined the Ghadar movement, and served time in prison. On 13 March 1940, at a meeting at Caxton Hall in London, he shot O'Dwyer dead. At his trial he gave his name as Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, joining the names of India's faiths, and spoke against British rule. He was hanged at Pentonville.

How he is remembered

In 1974 his remains were brought back to India and cremated at Sunam. He is remembered as a shaheed of the freedom struggle with tributes, Ardas and gatherings across Punjab, above all at Sunam and at Jallianwala Bagh.