Miles Irving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Miles Irving | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 August 1876[1] |
| Died | 24 June 1962 (aged 85)[3] |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  British Empire |
| Branch |  British Indian Army |
| Service years | 1917–1919 |
| Rank | Lieutenant-Colonel (temp.) |
| Conflicts | First World War |
| Awards | OBE Mentioned in dispatches |
Sir Miles Irving CIE, OBE (1 August 1876 - 24 June 1962) was an English Indian Civil Service officer. As Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, the senior government official in charge, he transferred the city's administration to Colonel (temp. Brigadier-General) Reginald Dyer in April 1919, which helped to precipitate the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.[4]
Irving was born in Singapore, then the capital of the crown colony of the Straits Settlements; his father Charles John Irving was a senior revenue officer who rose to become the colony's Auditor-General.[2] Educated at Blundell's School and at Balliol College, Oxford, Irving sat the Indian Civil Service exams in 1898 and arrived in India on 10 November 1899. He was assigned to the Punjab cadre of the ICS, and in April 1914 served at Lahore, the capital of the Punjab Province.[1] In the same month, he was appointed senior secretary to the financial commissioner of Punjab, with the rank of assistant commissioner (1st grade).[1][5] In October, he was promoted to deputy commissioner (officiating),[1] Having received a reserve commission in the British Indian Army with the rank of captain, he was called to active duty in February 1917,[1] and was promoted from captain to temporary lieutenant-colonel on 20 February 1917.[6] Initially posted as assistant adjutant-general at Delhi, Irving was subsequently assigned to the headquarters of the Southern Command.[2] He was demobilised in February 1919, having been mentioned in dispatches.[2][1] For his wartime service, he was further appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division in June.[2]
