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What is Sake Dean Mahomed’s legacy? Google Doodle honours Anglo-Indian entrepreneur

The talented physician known as 'Dr Brighton' counted two Kings among his patients

SURGEON, doctor, writer - there was very little Sake Dean Mahomed didn't turn his hand to.

Here's what we know of the legacy of this extraordinary man, whose manifold achievements are celebrated by Google today.

 Sake Dean Mahomed set up the UK's first ever Indian restaurant
Sake Dean Mahomed
Sake Dean Mahomed set up the UK's first ever Indian restaurant

Who was Sake Dean Mahomed?

Born in Patna, India, in 1759, Mahomed was taken under the wing of a British Army officer at the age of 10 after his father died.

He later served in the army of the British East India Company as a trainee surgeon and honourably served against the Marathas.

In 1782 he resigned from the army, accompanying his "best friend" Captain Baker to Britain.

Two years later he emigrated to Cork in Ireland with the Baker family, where he studied to improve his English at a local school.

There he fell in love with Jane Daly, a "pretty Irish girl of respectable parentage".

The Daly family was opposed to their relationship and the couple eloped to another town to get married in 1786.

Mahomed was forced to convert to Anglicanism to marry Jane, as it was illegal for Protestants to marry those not of their faith.

The couple moved to Brighton at the turn of the 19th century and had seven children.

Mahomed died in Brighton in 1851, between the ages of about 91 and 92.

 Sake Dean Mahomed was a big thinker who made numerous contributions to British society

What did the entrepreneur do in England?

A man of many talents, the doctor published his book Travels of Dean Mahomed in 1794, an autobiographical narrative about his adventures in India.

On moving to London, he opened the Hindostanee Coffee House, the first Indian restaurant in Britain, in 1810.

The restaurant offered such delights as the Hookha "with real chilm tobacco, and Indian dishes, ... allowed by the greatest epicures to be unequalled to any curries ever made in England".

Undeterred when the luxury restaurant closed down two years later, his next venture was just around the corner.

On  moving to Brighton Mahomed opened the first commercial "shampooing" bath in England.

He used his expertise learnt in his home state of Buzar, where he learnt various techniques to produce alkali, soaps and shampoo.

The service provided a combination of a steam bath and an Indian therapeutic massage and became an instant hit.

So successful was Mahomed that he became known as "Dr Brighton", with hospitals referring patients to his care.

In his heyday, he even served Kings George  IV and William IV as their shampooing surgeon.

What is a Google Doodle?

In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to show that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.




Google kicked off 2019 with an animated Doodle of New Year's Eve celebrations.

On January 7, Fahrelnissa Zeid's life was celebrated with a colourful, kaleidoscopic Doodle on her 118th birthday.

And on January 11, the life of the first black singer on BBC Radio, Evelyn Dove, was celebrated.
