Udham Singh, great freedom fighter from punjab, was born Sher Singh, on 26 December 1899, at Sunam, in the princely state of Patiala. His father, Tahal Singh, was at that time working as a watchman on a railway crossing in the neighbouring village of Upall . Sher Singh lost his parents before he was seven years and was admitted along with his brother Mukta Singh to the Central Khalsa Orphanage at Amritsar on 24 October 1907.
As both brothers were administered the Sikh initiatory rites at the Orphanage, they received new names, Sher Singh becoming Udham Singh and Mukta Singh became Sadhu Singh. In 1917, Udham Singh's brother also died, leaving him alone in the world. He received education and crafts training.
Udham Singh left the Orphanage after passing the matriculation examination in 1918.He set up a painters shop with the signboard of Ram Mahammad Singh Azad.
He was present in the Jallianvala Bag on the fateful Baisakhi day, 13 April 1919, when a peaceful assembly of people was fired upon by General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, killing over one thousand people. The event which Udham Singh used to recall with anger and sorrow, turned him to the path of revolution. On this day, General Dyer changed the course of Sardar Udham Singh life.
He resolved to wreck vengeance on the perpetrators of this heinous crime, General Dyer, Sir Michael O'Dwyer the Lieutenant Governor, Punjab and Lord Zetland Secretary of State of India. Sardar Udham Singh moved from one country to another country to shoot the murderers of his countrymen..
He felt thrilled to learn about the militant activities of the Babar Akalis, in the early 1920's, and secretly kept with him, some revolvers and was arrested by the police in Amritsar, and sentenced to four years imprisonment under the Arms Act.
On release in 1931, he returned to his native Sunam, but harassed by the local police, he once again returned to Amritsar and opened a shop as a signboard painter, assuming the name of Ram Muhammad Singh Azad. This name, which he was to use later in England , was adopted to emphasize the unity of all the religious communities in India in their struggle for political freedom..
He reached London through Germany where he joined a training course to hoodwink his activities to trace General Dyer, Sir Michael O' Dwyer and Lord Zetland. It took him twenty years to meet Sir Michael O'Dwyer and Lord Zetland. The third culprit General Dyer had already expired. After 21 years, it was on the 13th March. 1940 when Sir Michael O' Dwyer and Lord Zetland had come to attend a meeting in the Caxton Hall in London, that Sardar Udham Singh entered there with his revolver hidden inside a book. Sardar Udham Singh gunned Sir Michael O'Dwyer down with his revolver. There was great panic and pandemonium in the Hall. He in fact made no attempt to escape and continued saying that he had done his duty by his country. Sardar Udham Singh stood firm and he was chained.
On 1 April 1940, Udham Singh was formally charged with the murder of Sir Michael O'Dwyer. When produced before the Magistrate, he said 'I did the deed because Sir Michael O'Dwyer wanted to cresh all our aspirations for freedom. I had been after him for full 21 years. I am happy that I have fulfilled my job. I am not afraid of death'.
On 4 June 1940, he was committed to trial, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, before Justice Atkinson, who sentenced him to death. An appeal was filed on his behalf which was dismissed on 15 July 1940. On 31 July 1940, Udham Singh was hanged in Pentonville Prison in London .
Udham Singh was essentially a man of action and save his statement before the judge at his trial, there was no writing from his pen available to historians. Recently, letters written by him to Shiv Singh Jauhal during his days in prison after the shooting of Sir Michael O'Dwyer have been discovered and published. These letters show him as a man of great courage, with a sense of humour. He called himself a 'guest of His Majesty King George', and he looked upon death as a bride he was going to wed. By remaining cheerful to the last and going joyfully to the gallows, he followed the example of Bhagat Singh who had been his beau ideal. During the trial, Udham Singh had made a request that his ashes be sent back to his country, but this was not allowed. In 1975, however, the Government of India, at the instance of the Punjab Government, finally succeeded in bringing his ashes home. Lakhs of people gathered on the occasion to pay homage to his memory.
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