Dean Mahomed (May 1759 – 24 February 1851) was a British Indian traveller, soldier, surgeon, entrepreneur, and one of the most notable early non-European immigrants to the Western World. Due to non-standard transliteration, his name is spelled in various ways. His high social status meant that he later adopted the honorific "Sake" (Sheikh) meaning "venerable one". Mahomed introduced Indian cuisine and shampoo baths to Europe, where he offered therapeutic massage. He was also the first Indian to publish a book in English. Dean Mahomed described himself as a "native of Patna" belonging to a Shia Muslim family that claimed Arab and Afshar Turk origin. However other sources indicate that he belonged to the Nai caste of barbers.

In his work Shampooing, he described himself as a native of India, born in the city of Patna in Hindoostan:

Dean Mahomed's father served in the Bengal Army which mainly recruited from the area of Bihar and the historian, Michael H. Fisher believes that Dean Mahomed's father was recruited by Robert Clive during a recruitment drive in the town of Buxar.

He claimed he had ancestors who worked in administrative service under the Mughal Emperors and the Nawabs of Murshidabad. Sake Dean Mahomed grew up in Patna and his father died in battle when Mahomed was about 11 years old.

Following his father's death, he was taken under the wing of Captain Godfrey Evan Baker, an Anglo-Irish Protestant officer. Mahomed served in the army of the East India Company as a trainee surgeon and against the Marathas. He remained with Captain Baker until 1782 when the Captain resigned. That same year, Mahomed also resigned from the Army, choosing to accompany Baker, 'his best friend', to Ireland.

According to leading scholars, and as indicated by parish records in London, Mahomed contracted a bigamous marriage in Marylebone in 1806 to Jane Jeffreys (1780–1850); the banns were read on 24 August for Jane and "William Mahomet." In 1863 he added a Victorian Turkish bath to his establishment which remained open till the early 1870s. He made important contributions to the study of high blood pressure. Another of Sake Dean Mahomed's grandsons, Rev. James Keriman Mahomed, was appointed as the vicar of Hove, Sussex, in the late 19th century. James married Emma Louisa Black, a flower painter whose work was displayed at the Royal Academy. Together they had a son, RAF Captain Felix Wyatt. Felix was killed in action during the First World War after he was shot down whilst flying over France.

The Travels of Dean Mahomet

alt=1794 title page of Dean Mahomet's Travels|thumb|344x344px|1794 title page of Dean Mahomet's Travels

On 15 January 1794, Mahomed published a book titled The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book is in epistolary form as was common for travel books and many novels in that era and consists of 38 letters. The book begins with a brief introduction where he contrasts Ireland and India, writing that "the face of every thing about me [is] so contrasted to those striking scenes in India." and proceeds to give a sketch of his early years. He then describes his travels over the period 1770 to 1775 as a camp follower to the Bengal army as it moved around North East India. A series of military conflicts are described along with descriptions of some major cities, including Kolkata (Calcutta) and Varanasi (Benares). This is accompanied by first hand accounts of Indian culture, trade, military conflicts, food, wildlife, etc. The book concludes with a description of Mahomed's voyage to Britain where he arrived at Dartmouth in September 1784. While Mahomed gives an insightful and sympathetic account of India and Indian customs, as Mona Narain points out this is done from an essentially European cultural perspective - he consistently uses the pronoun "we" to describe himself and Europeans, and does not in his writings seek to challenge poor governmental management within the East India Company. The historian Michael Fisher, who published a biographical essay to accompany an edition of the book, suggested that some passages in the book were closely paraphrased from other travel narratives written in the late 18th century.thumb|1794 Frontispiece of Dean Mahomet's Travels

Restaurant venture

thumb|right|Plaque commemorating Mahomed's coffee house

In 1810, after moving to London, Sake Dean Mahomed opened the first Indian restaurant in England: the Hindoostane Coffee House in George Street, near Portman Square, Central London. The restaurant also provided a home delivery service.)]]

Mahomed died on 24 February 1851 (aged 91–92) at 32 Grand Parade, Brighton. He was buried in a grave at St Nicholas Church, Brighton, in which his son Frederick was later interred. Frederick taught fencing, gymnastics and other activities in Brighton at a gymnasium he built on the town's Church Street.

Recognition

After his death in 1851, Sake Dean Mahomed, once so renowned in Ireland and Brighton's social scenes, began to lose prominence as a public figure and until the scholarly interventions of the last fifty years was largely forgotten by history.

See also

  • British Indians
  • Mirza Abu Taleb Khan
  • Elizabeth Sharaf un-Nisa

Published works

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

  • Celebrating Sake Dean Mahomed at Google Doodle
  • Web version of The Travels of Dean Mahomet
  • Works by or about Sake Dean Mahomed at Internet Archive
  • Works by or about Sake Dean Mahomed at HathiTrust
  • "Making History – Sake Dean Mahomed – Regency 'Shampooing Surgeon'", BBC – Beyond the Broadcast
  • Black History in Brighton
  • Differences in Attitudes: Sheikh Deen Mahomed and Shampoo (Urdu)