Udham Singh
| Udham Singh | |
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| Born | 26 December 1899 Sunam, Punjab, British India |
| Died | 31 July 1940 (aged 40) Pentonville Prison, United Kingdom |
| Organization | Ghadar Party, Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, Indian Workers' Association |
| Movement | Indian independence movement |
Udham Singh (26 December 1899 – 31 July 1940) was an Indian revolutionary best known for assassinating Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab in British India, on 13 March 1940. The assassination has been described as an avenging of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919. Singh is a well-known figure of the Indian independence movement. He is sometimes referred to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh (the expression "Shaheed-i-Azam," Urdu: شهید اعظم, means "the great martyr"). A district (Udham Singh Nagar) of Uttarakhand was named after him in October 1995 by Mayawati government.
Singh was born Sher Singh on 26 December 1899, at Sunam in the Sangrur district of Punjab, India, to a Kamboj family. His father, Sardar Tehal Singh Jammu (known as Chuhar Singh before taking the Amrit), was a railway crossing watchman in the village of Upalli.
After his father's death, Singh and his elder brother, Mukta Singh, were taken in by the Central Khalsa Orphanage Putlighar in Amritsar. At the orphanage, Singh was administered the Sikh initiatory rites and received the name of Udham Singh. He passed his matriculation examination in 1918 and left the orphanage in 1919..
On 10 April 1919, a number of local leaders allied to the Indian National Congress including Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew were arrested under the Rowlatt Act. Protestors against the arrests were fired on by British troops, precipitating a riot during which British banks were burned and four Europeans were killed. On 13 April, over twenty thousand unarmed protestors were assembled in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. Singh and his friends from the orphanage were serving water to the crowd.
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