James W. Massey
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James William Massey, (born 1877), commanded 184 troops of the 1st garrison battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, at Amritsar in 1919.
James Massey was born in 1877.[1] He was at first commissioned in the Hampshire Regiment.[1] In early 1900 he sailed to South Africa, where he served with the East Griqualand Mounted Rifles during the Boer War and received a brevet rank of captain in 1901.[1] In 1915 he rejoined the Hampshire,[1] and was appointed captain in October of that year.[2]
In February 1917 Massey sailed from Plymouth to India with the Somerset Light Infantry.[1][3] By the end of 1918, he was stationed in Amritsar, commanding a small garrison of 184 troops from the 1st Garrison Battalion.[1][4][5][6] On 11 April 1919, upon Reginald Dyer's arrival at Amritsar, Massey was replaced with Major MacDonald.[7]
Having served in the army throughout the Punjab disturbances and martial law, though not present at Jallianwalla Bagh on the 13th April, Massey testified at the Hunter Inquiry.[1][8] After Reginald C. A. Plomer's testimony and before Henry Smith's, Massey told the committee that Amritsar remained largely calm before the Rowlatt Bill, with only politically conscious and educated Indians showing concern, while the wider population became agitated only after the arrests of Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal on 10 April 1919.[1][9] In November 1920 he was noted Captain with the 3rd Hampshire.[10][a]