(Rao Sahib) Umedram Lalbhai Desai (1869–1930) was a medical doctor in India during the time of the British Raj.
(1904 British Medical Directory, Practitioners Resident Abroad) Desai was born in Vyara, Valod in Surat district in the Indian state of Gujarat, India on 16 November 1869.
Lalbhai Desai was a landowner (Zamindar) who owned vast amounts of land in Valod.
Among them were the following: Desai is mentioned in the article "Why I Became A Theosophist" by Dr. Henry Travers Edge published in Theosophia: A Living Philosophy For Humanity in Volume XVI No.
"Among members of what might be called the household staff, I recall, besides the two Keightleys, the Countess Wachtmeister, whose name occupies a notable place in the pages of early Theosophical history; Mr. George R.S.
's secretary; Mr. Claude Falls Wright; Mrs. Cooper-Oakley and her sister Laura Cooper; Miss Kislingbury; Charles Johnston, Sanskrit scholar, who married Vera Zhelihovsky, H.P.
Other notable names not included among resident members, are Herbert Burrows, leading Socialist; Dr. Franz Harman, well-known writer on occult subjects; Mrs. Alice Gordon, long resident in India and mentioned in early Theosophical annals; William Kingsland, then a young electrical engineer; Colonel Olcott.
"[3]In the supplement to the book The Theosophist written by Madame Blatvatsky in June 1891, Dr Umedram Lalbhai is mentioned.
""Meanwhile, the papers of the Oriental Department were begun in January by an article from the pen of Swami Bhaskara Nand Saraswati, a Hindu friend now here; in February the second was furnished by Dr. Umedram Lalbhai Desai, who is now in London"There is also a reference to the Races in Western India in the article called The Path Desai was sent to England by Sir Sayaji Rao III Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda, to pursue his education in Medicine.
This article was for distribution among members of the British Parliament and Government officials concerned in the welfare of India.
Details of the article are provided below: "To the South African born should also be added the occasional immigrant medic such as the West Indian, A. C. Jackson, or the Indian doctor, Umedram Laibhai Desai, and black doctors were also present in neighbouring territories, such as Basutoland, where Drs Sebeta and Motebang practised".[5]E.
Umedram Lalbhai Desai was an Indian with the triple diploma from Edinburgh and Glasgow but, although he retained his name on the Cape register, he appears never to have lived in the colony."
"[4] On 8 April 1919, Umedram Lalbhai Desai relinquished his temporary rank as a captain in the Indian Medical Service.
"The KING has approved the relinquishment of temp, rank in the Indian Medical Service by the following gentlemen: - Captain Umedram Lalbhai Desai, 8th April, 1919" The London Gazette, 31 October 1991 [2] Desai is mentioned in the Encyclopaedia of Political Parties as an Ex Officio member for Burmah in the Indian National Congress[6] party created in 1885.
At the age of 36, he married Satyabala Devi (born 1892) – daughter of a Zamindar from Bihar and a child widow.
Guno Bati's brother Ridhoyranjan Mitter, the sub-editor of the Statesman newspaper in Calcutta, arranged for Gunobati to work as a tutor in the Desai household.
He was appointed Chief Medical Officer, Sanitary Commissioner and Jail Superintendent of Sachin State in 1919.
While he was in Umrath, Desai had a room at the Taj Hotel in Bombay where he visited his patients once a month.
"From Maharajas and Princes to various kings, Presidents, CEOs and entertainers, the Taj played the perfect host, supportive of their needs".
In 1928, Desai and his family moved to Bombay, where they lived in Grants Building, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba, Mumbai.