Life Summary: He was born in Patna, Bihar in what is now Bengal. He trained as a surgeon in the army of the British East India Company, later accompanying a fellow officer to England. He married an Englishwoman, converted to the Anglican Church, and they produced five children. He moved his family to London to open a shampoo massage therapy bath, that was frequented by many, including aristocrats.
Major Works: The Travels of Dean Mahomet
Place in society/context: As an Indian, he was one of the first to travel to England and the first Indian to publish in English. While not immediately accepted with the aristocracy, his exotic foreign experience led to business opportunities, which led to his appointment as a shampoo surgeon to several members of the royal family.
18th Century Lit. Importance: His letters were an intimate look at the attitudes of foreigners coming to England. They function to show representation of colonialist feelings from British citizens.
Yet the impact of his writings are disputed by critics. While he was the first to represent the Indian experience, the morality of the foreign human condition remained to be seen in England: "The existence of such non-European perspectives on, and participation in, the imperial process, exposes the multilaterality of that process. Nevertheless, while Dean Mahomet's book demonstrates the existence of long-neglected Indian voices in the colonial process, the limited impact of his book on British attitudes toward India suggests European lack of openness to his narrative" (Fisher xix). Mahomet's perspective is essential to comprehending 18th century print culture in terms of foreign writers.