Madan Lal Dhingra was perhaps the first Indian freedom fighter to be executed on British soil on August 17, 1909. He was pained over the partition of Bengal in 1905 and came in contact with other revolutionaries Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Shyam Ji Krishna Varma, and decided to assassinate a British official Sir William Hutt Curzon.
On 1st July 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra killed Curzon in London.
In 1977, the ashes of Madan Lal Dhingra were flown back to India. Among those who paid their homage to the martyr were President Ahmed, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Congress President D. K. Borooah. The Punjab Chief Minister and his entourage personally escorted the casket on its journey from Delhi to Punjab.
Madan Lal Dhingra was born on 18 September 1883 in Amritsar. His father was an eye specialist and Civil Surgeon of Amritsar. Some say he was the first Indian doctor to reach that eminent position. Madan Lal was the sixth of his seven sons. Two of Madan Lal’s brothers were doctors, one was an MRCP (1895); two other brothers were barristers. Dhingra studied for Diploma in Civil Engineering at University College, London from 1906-09. Rabindranath Tagore studied English Literature at the same college from 1878-1880.