Edward Palmer, a retired Indian Army officer founded E. P. Veeraswamy & Co. in Hornsey in 1896 to promote Indian foods “so that they could be used under Western conditions and yet produce Eastern results.” Palmer also launched the Veeraswamy restaurant on Regent Street in London.

Chronicling the history of the vaunted British curry house, the guardian’s food journalist Bee Wilson notes,

In 1960, there were just 300 curry restaurants in Britain. The grandest of these was the venerable Veeraswamy’s off Regent Street, opened in 1926 by Edward Palmer, a retired army officer and Indian spice importer who had been the official caterer for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. Palmer aimed his menu at visiting Indian princes and upper-middle-class Londoners who appreciated the turbaned waiters and chandeliers.