Sake Dean Mahomed is one of the most notable non- European immigrant of the western world and he became a doodle!
It’s the perfect time to find out more about him and his amazing life!
- Sake Dean Mahomed was an Anglo-Indian traveller
- He was, also, a surgeon
- And an entrepreneur
- He was one of the most notable early non-European immigrants to the Western World
- Sake Dean Mahomed introduced Indian cuisine and shampoo baths to Europe
- In these baths he offered therapeutic massages
- He was also the first Indian to publish a book in English
- He was born in 1759 in the city of Patna
- His father, who belonged to the traditional Nai (barber) caste, was in the employment of the East India Company
- Sake Dean Mahomed had learned much of alchemy and understood the techniques used to produce various alkali, soaps and shampoo
- He later described the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the cities of Allahabad and Delhi in rich detail and also made note of the faded glories of the Mughal Empire
- His father died when Mahomed was young
- At the age of 10, he was taken under the wing of Captain Godfrey Evan Baker
- Mahomed served in the army of the British East India Company
- He was a trainee surgeon
- He, also, honourably served against the Marathas
- Sake Dean Mahomed also mentions how Mir Qasim and most of the entire Bengali Muslim aristocracy had lost their famed wealth
- He complained about Shuja-ud-Daula’s campaign against his Rohilla allies
- And how Hyder Ali defeated the British during the Battle of Pollilur
- Mahomed remained with Captain Baker’s unit until 1782
- That same year, Mahomed also resigned from the Army
- He chose to accompany Captain Baker to Britain
- Captain Baker was believed to be his best friend
- n 1794, Mahomed published his travel book, titled The Travels of Dean Mahomed
- It describes several important cities in India
- He also describes a series of military conflicts with local Indian principalities
- It was suggested that some passages in the book were closely paraphrased from other travel narratives written in the late 18th century
- In 1810, after moving to London, Sake Dean Mahomed opened the first Indian restaurant in England
- The restaurant offered such delights such as hookah
- Sake Dean Mahomed ended due to financial turmoils
- Before opening his restaurant, Mahomed had worked in London for nabob Basil Cochrane
- Basil had installed a steam bath for public use in his house in Portman Square and Mahomed promoted its medical benefits
- Sake Dean Mahomed may have been responsible for introducing the practice of champooi or “shampooing” (or Indian massage) there
- In 1814, Mahomed and his wife moved back to Brighton and opened the first commercial “shampooing” vapour masseur bath in England
- He described the treatment in a local paper as “The Indian Medicated Vapour Bath”
- This business was an immediate success and Dean Mahomed became known as “Dr. Brighton”
- Many hospitals referred patients to him
- He was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both King George IV and William IV
- In 1784, Mahomed emigrated to Cork, Ireland, with the Baker family
- There he studied to improve his English language skills at a local school
- While there Sake Dean Mahomed fell in love with Jane Daly
- The Daly family was opposed to their relationship
- The couple fled to another town to get married in 1786
- Mahomed converted to Anglicanism to marry Jane Daly
- They moved to Brighton, England, at the turn of the 19th century
- Sake Dean Mahomed and his wife Jane had seven children
- Their names were Rosanna, Henry, Horatio, Frederick, Arthur, Dean Mahomed and Amelia
- His son, Frederick, was a proprietor of Turkish baths at Brighton and also ran a boxing and fencing academy near Brighton.
- Mahomed’s most famous grandson, Frederick Henry Horatio Akbar Mahomed, became an internationally known physician
- He made important contributions to the study of high blood pressure
- Another of Sake Dean Mahomed’s grandsons, Rev. James Kerriman Mahomed, was appointed as the vicar of Hove, Sussex, in the late 19th century
- Mahomed died in 1851 at 32 Grand Parade, Brighton
- He was buried in a grave at St Nicholas Church, Brighton
- Sake Dean Mahomed began to lose prominence by the Victorian era
- Until recently he was largely forgotten by history
- Michael H. Fisher has written a book on Sheikh Dean Mahomet: The First Indian Author in English: Dean Mahomed in India, Ireland, and England
- On 29 September 2005 the City of Westminster unveiled a Green Plaque commemorating the opening of the Hindoostane Coffee House
- The plaque is at 102 George Street, close to the original site of the coffee house at 34 George Street
- His work is being examined again today
- Google made a doodle for Sake Dean Mahomed on January 15, 2019 in its main page
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