Richard Lionel Spittel, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons was a Ceylonese Burgher physician and author
Background
Richard Lionel Spiteel was born in Tangalle on 9 December 1881, the fourth child of Doctor Frederick George Spittel (1853-1943) (who later became a District Medical Officer in Ceylon Health Service) and Zilia Eleanor Andree née Jansz (1855-?). Spittel received his education at Royal College, Colombo and the Ceylon Medical College, where he passed Learning Management System in 1905.
Education
There he finished conjoint diploma in 1908 and took Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1909.
Career
He was one of the foremost experts on the Vedda community. Thereafter he joined the government medical service and was sent to England in 1906 to complete his higher education. Returning to Ceylon in 1910, he was appointed the Third Surgeon at the General Hospital Colombo.
He served as President of Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon from 1936 to 1938.
They had two daughters, Christine and Yvonne. Spittel died on 3 September 1969, at the age of 87.
Membership
A lifelong member of the British Medical Association, he was the President of its Ceylon Branch from 1940 to 1946. Spittel married a fellow medical student Claribel Frances Van Dort, daughter of one of Ceylon"s most distinguished physicians and a member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon, Doctor William Gregory Van Dort, on 28 December 1911 at Street Michael and All Angels" Church, Colombo.