Sake Dean Mahomed trivia: 60 facts about the famous traveller!

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!

1. Sake Dean Mahomed was an Anglo-Indian traveller
2. He was, also, a surgeon
3. And an entrepreneur
4. He was one of the most notable early non-European immigrants to the Western World
5. Sake Dean Mahomed introduced Indian cuisine and shampoo baths to Europe
6. In these baths he offered therapeutic massages
7. He was also the first Indian to publish a book in English
8. He was born in 1759 in the city of Patna
9. His father, who belonged to the traditional Nai (barber) caste, was in the employment of the East India Company
10. Sake Dean Mahomed had learned much of alchemy and understood the techniques used to produce various alkali, soaps and shampoo
11. 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
12. His father died when Mahomed was young
13. At the age of 10, he was taken under the wing of Captain Godfrey Evan Baker
14. Mahomed served in the army of the British East India Company
15. He was a trainee surgeon
16. He, also, honourably served against the Marathas
17. Sake Dean Mahomed also mentions how Mir Qasim and most of the entire Bengali Muslim aristocracy had lost their famed wealth
18. He complained about Shuja-ud-Daula’s campaign against his Rohilla allies
19. And how Hyder Ali defeated the British during the Battle of Pollilur
20. Mahomed remained with Captain Baker’s unit until 1782
21. That same year, Mahomed also resigned from the Army
22. He chose to accompany Captain Baker to Britain
23. Captain Baker was believed to be his best friend
24. n 1794, Mahomed published his travel book, titled The Travels of Dean Mahomed
25. It describes several important cities in India
26. He also describes a series of military conflicts with local Indian principalities
27. It was suggested that some passages in the book were closely paraphrased from other travel narratives written in the late 18th century
28. In 1810, after moving to London, Sake Dean Mahomed opened the first Indian restaurant in England
29. The restaurant offered such delights such as hookah
30. Sake Dean Mahomed ended due to financial turmoils
31. Before opening his restaurant, Mahomed had worked in London for nabob Basil Cochrane
32. Basil had installed a steam bath for public use in his house in Portman Square and Mahomed promoted its medical benefits
33. Sake Dean Mahomed may have been responsible for introducing the practice of champooi or “shampooing” (or Indian massage) there
34. In 1814, Mahomed and his wife moved back to Brighton and opened the first commercial “shampooing” vapour masseur bath in England
35. He described the treatment in a local paper as “The Indian Medicated Vapour Bath”
36. This business was an immediate success and Dean Mahomed became known as “Dr. Brighton”
37. Many hospitals referred patients to him
38. He was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both King George IV and William IV
39. In 1784, Mahomed emigrated to Cork, Ireland, with the Baker family
40. There he studied to improve his English language skills at a local school
41. While there Sake Dean Mahomed fell in love with Jane Daly
42. The Daly family was opposed to their relationship
43. The couple fled to another town to get married in 1786
44. Mahomed converted to Anglicanism to marry Jane Daly
45. They moved to Brighton, England, at the turn of the 19th century
46. Sake Dean Mahomed and his wife Jane had seven children
47. Their names were Rosanna, Henry, Horatio, Frederick, Arthur, Dean Mahomed and Amelia
48. His son, Frederick, was a proprietor of Turkish baths at Brighton and also ran a boxing and fencing academy near Brighton.
49. Mahomed’s most famous grandson, Frederick Henry Horatio Akbar Mahomed, became an internationally known physician
50. He made important contributions to the study of high blood pressure
51. Another of Sake Dean Mahomed’s grandsons, Rev. James Kerriman Mahomed, was appointed as the vicar of Hove, Sussex, in the late 19th century
52. Mahomed died in 1851 at 32 Grand Parade, Brighton
53. He was buried in a grave at St Nicholas Church, Brighton
54. Sake Dean Mahomed began to lose prominence by the Victorian era
55. Until recently he was largely forgotten by history
56. Michael H. Fisher has written a book on Sheikh Dean Mahomet: The First Indian Author in English: Dean Mahomed in India, Ireland, and England
57. On 29 September 2005 the City of Westminster unveiled a Green Plaque commemorating the opening of the Hindoostane Coffee House
58. The plaque is at 102 George Street, close to the original site of the coffee house at 34 George Street
59. His work is being examined again today
60. Google made a doodle for Sake Dean Mahomed on January 15, 2019 in its main page