17 July, 1920

Saturday

My darling old Pip,

This rest cure has now lasted 3 weeks. The reason I dont get up till 12 is to pass the time, I am very well indeed as you will have seen from the photo in my last letter. Have got quite a lot of cuttings of likely houses from the Times. It will be very nice for you going to the Bax’s after leaving the Hall. I suppose I can get a room somewhere handy if I come over on leave. Glad to get such good news of you and Cutlett. (we shall have to call him Atty now) Im sure he’s a dear.

Someone is just going off to the post so will stop, and write a longer letter tomorrow.

your c

_{Twelfth Letter sent to Mrs C.H. Tindall Lucas, 1 Cleveland Gardens, Hyde Park LONDON W2 postmarked EASTBOURNE 6:15 pm 19 July 1920. The paper and the envelope are identical to  that of letter No.11.}

Austin Chamberlain to Winston Churchill (17th July, 1920)

I think it right to let you know that, in view of the gravity of the military situation in Ireland and through the Middle East, I find it necessary to continue recruiting for the Army and Air Force to the utmost possible limits. We are still getting nearly a thousand recruits a week for the Army, and this is about the only resource open to us. The increased charge that will fall upon Army Estimates this year through the continuance of recruiting will be more than balanced by the comparative failure to raise the Territorial Army and by the postponement of the recruitment of the greater part of the Reserve.

I send you this intimation in case you should wish to have a Cabinet discussion on the Subject.

The Right Honourable Austin Chamberlain MP

_{The Churchill Archives}

Dyer is infamous for the orders that he gave on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar. It was by his command that 50 troops, opened fire on a non-violent gathering of unarmed civilians, men, women and children, at the Jallianwalla Bagh, in what later came to be known as the Amritsar massacre.

The civilians had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh to participate in the annual Baisakhi celebrations which are both a religious and a cultural festival of the Punjabis. Coming from outside the city, they may have been unaware of the martial law that had been imposed. The Bagh-space comprised 6 to 7 acres (2 to 3 ha) and was walled on all sides, except for five entrances. Four of the entrances were very narrow, admitting only a few people at a time. The fifth entrance was blocked by the armed soldiers, as well as by two armoured cars with machine guns. The vehicles were unable to pass through the entrance. Upon entering the park, the general ordered the troops to shoot directly into the gathering. The shooting continued unabated for about 10 minutes, and the soldiers' supply of 1,650 rounds of ammunition was almost exhausted.

Dyer is reported to have, from time to time, "checked his fire and directed it upon places where the crowd was thickest”, not because the crowd was slow to disperse, but because he "had made up his mind to punish them for having assembled there."Some of the soldiers initially shot into the air, at which Dyer shouted: "Fire low. What have you been brought here for?" Later, Dyer's own testimony revealed that the crowd was not given any warning to disperse and he was not remorseful for having ordered his troops to shoot. Official figures put the casualties at 379 identified dead, comprising 337 men, 41 boys and a six-week old baby, with approximately 1,100 wounded, of which 192 were seriously injured. Other sources report over 1000 dead.

_{Wikipedia - Reginald Dyer}

17th July 1920

My dear Crewe*,

The normal procedure which would have been observed if the Hunter Commission* *had not been set up would have been much as indicated by you, but the question as to whether or not any reference to the army council would’ve been necessary would’ve depended on the nature of the action taken by the commander in chief in India. The point is somewhat technical, but in a nutshell, the army council would not have been concerned in this case unless the commander in chief in India, the secretary of state for India, had recommended that Brigadier General Dyer should be removed from the army, called upon to resign, or to retire.

In regards to the question you put to me as to whether or not there could be any question of trying Brigadier General Dyer by court-martial, I think it all depends on the view which is taken as to whether or not any offence was in fact committed. My own opinion is that the offence, if any, amounted to murder, alternatively, manslaughter. These Offences may be military offences as well as civil offences, and therefore it can hardly be said that Brigadier General Dyer could not be tried by Court Marshall because the offence he committed was not a military offence. If you will refer to Section 45(1) (a) of the Army Act, you will see that (inter alia) the offence of murder of manslaughter cannot be tried by Court Martial unless (inter alia) it was committed on active service. The point is highly technical, because it might be argued that the troops at Amritsar were on active service, but my own opinion is that the clear intentions of the Army Act are that the offences of murder and manslaughter must always be dealt with by the Civil Power if Civil Courts are available.

I will not, however, labour these technical points further, and if you would wish to be more fully informed I would send Major-General Childs to see you on Monday to explain the position to you at length.

You will notice that a question was asked in the House yesterday by Brigadier General Surtees as to the recent Act of Indemnity*** which has been passed in India. This has a bearing on the situation, and the answer will be found in “Hansard” of the 16th July on page 2791.

_{Churchill Archives}

_{*Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe, KG, PC, FSA (12 January 1858 – 20 June 1945), was a British Liberal politician, statesman and writer. He had been Secretary of State for India 25 May 1911 – 25 May 1915}

_{** “When World War One began in 1914, Indian citizens became heavily involved in supporting the British war effort through the provision of men and resources. By the end of the conflict, the appetite for Indian independence was growing and simmering civil unrest in Punjab threatened a large scale revolt. On 13 April 1919 large crowds gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, consisting of non-violent protesters against British martial law and religious pilgrims visiting the site as part of the Sikh festival Baisakhi. Earlier in the day a ban had been imposed by the British Indian Army which prohibited public meetings of such a size. Several troops surrounded the crowd and were ordered to shoot, killing an estimated 379 and wounding hundreds more. The British government established a committee to inquire into the events, and the Hunter Report includes evidence taken in relation to the events in Amritsar, and was published by the Government of India.” Source}

_{***An Act of Indemnity is a statute passed to protect people who have committed some illegal act which would otherwise cause them to be subjected to legal penalties.}

Churchill, the then Secretary of State for War, wanted Dyer to be disciplined, but the Army Council superseded by him decided to allow Dyer to resign with no plan for further punishment. Following Churchill's speech defending the council's decision and a debate in Parliament, on 8 July 1920 MPs voted for the government by a majority of 247 to 37; a motion calling for approval of Dyer's actions was defeated by a majority of 230 to 129. Dyer then settled in Britain. He was presented with a gift of £26,000 sterling, a huge sum in those days, equivalent to £1,052,047 in 2019, which emerged from the fund raised on his behalf by the Morning Post, a conservative, pro-imperialist newspaper which later merged with the Daily Telegraph the families of the victims killed at the Jallianwala Bagh eventually received Rs 500 (then equal to £37.10s.0d; equivalent to £1,497 in 2019) for each victim.

_{Wikipedia - Reginald Dyer}