1919: Key Events

• The Government of India Act 1919 aka the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, transfers selected areas of administration to Indian control.

• The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, aka the Rowlatt Act, is designed to suppress all forms of nationalist protest.

• The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, commanded by General R. E. H. Dyer on 13 April. Rabindranath Tagore, knighted in 1915, returns his knighthood in protest following Jallianwala Bagh.

• The All-India Khilafat Conference, uniting conservative Muslims in support of the defeated Caliph of Turkey, is supported by the Congress Party. It influences the non-co-operation movement the following year as well as the Moplah rebellion of 1921. Modern Indian shipping launched with the Scindia Steam Navigation Co.’s Liberty.

• The Kohinoor Film Co. is founded.

• Release of the Maharashtra Film Co.’s début film, Sairandhri. Bilwamangal aka Bhagat Surdas, sometimes presented as the first Bengali feature, by Rustomji Dotiwala for Madan Theatres.