Wycherley commemorates 131st birth anniversary of late Dr. R.L. Spittel

A very memorable and poignant date in the history of Wycherley International School is the birthday on 9 December, of its founder late Dr. R.L. Spittel.

The Management and the Interact Club of Wycherley, held an event on 23 January to revere this simple yet illustrious personality. Wycherley Principal Kingsley Jayasinghe gave an introduction on the life and work of Dr. R.L. Spittel at the ceremony.

He said that he was indeed proud to be the Principal of the School which is housed in Dr. Spittel’s heritage home. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Senior Lecturer in English and Sabaragamuwa University in Belihuloya Department of Languages former Head Chandana Dissanayake.

Dissanayake is currently conducting a research on the writings of Dr. R.L. Spittel at the Sabaragamuwa University, University of Peradeniya and the Durham University in England. He has been in touch with the granddaughter of Dr. Spittel on various occasions, in order to gain an in-depth knowledge on this wonderful personality, his work and his house which is a legend of our time.  

Amongst the gathering was Wycherley International Management Dr. Upali Mampitiya. Excerpts from the works of Dr. Spittel were also presented at the ceremony.

Educated at Royal College, Colombo, Dr. R. L. Spittel was born on 9 December 1881 in Tangalle, to Dr. Fredrick Spittel and Zilla Spittel. In 1905, Dr. Spittel graduated from the Ceylon Medical College.

When he joined the Government service, his salary was just a bare of Rs. 750. He proceeded to England, completed his conjoint diploma in 1908 and his FRCS in 1909. On his return, he was appointed the third Surgeon at the General Hospital Colombo.

In 1935, when he retired from the Government service, he was a Senior Surgeon and a Lecturer at the Medical College. He continued his services as a Consultant Surgeon. His invaluable services towards surgery earned him the honour of being made a Commander of the most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1942 and a companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) in 1950.

He was humble, and felt undeserving of the latter award. And it took a lot of persuasion by the then Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, to coax him into accepting it.  He was the Ceylon Branch of the British Medical College President from 1940 to 1946.

Dr. Spittel was an eminent surgeon and his diagnosis was always spot on. He had a physical handicap of an arm that had to be treated for Septicaemia for nine months. Yet, that never deterred him from continuing with his passion for surgery.

He being a surgeon par excellence undertook the first skin graft in Sri Lanka and used his own blood for the first blood transfusion. He was by and large one of the best, fastest and surest surgeons that the country ever produced.

Joining the tribes

Despite being a medical doctor, he had a deep love for the wilds and a huge leaning towards anthropology. An avid nature lover, Dr. Spittel’s love was the forests of the country, gaining a vast knowledge on its fauna and flora and also the indigenous people, the Veddas.

He authored many books of which some of the well known and well read ones were ‘Wild Ceylon’, ‘Wild White Boy’,  ‘Vanished Trails’, ‘Where the White Sambhur Roams’ which graphically describe the forest adventures and ‘Savage Sanctuary’ which is a biographical novel based on facts on the Vedda outlaw (and later Vedda Chief) Tissahamy.  

Dr. Spittel’s white skin and his ‘Medicine man role’ was so acceptable to the Vedda clan that they revered him as a hero and named him ‘Hudu hoora’ (white brother).

When he retired from the Government service at the age of 54, he ventured out to run his own nursing home ‘Wycherley’. The building, which is a sprawling mansion, took two years for completion by 1922 and it is of enormous heritage value today. Dr. Spittel was helped by his wife Dr. Clarie who incidentally was the fourth woman physician in Sri lanka. He passed away on 3 September 1969, listening to the sounds of the birds in his aviary.

Wycherley International School was founded in 1985 and has been housed in this heritage building from that year onwards. It is a matter for conjecture as to why Dr. Spittel named this building Wycherley.

It may be that he admired Wycherley Hall in Shropshire in the UK and a restoration dramatist named William Wycherley also in the UK. The owners of the school decided to hold on to the name Wycherley as it was of historic value. The building is a sprawling structure, with original teak staircases and boarded floors which have stood the test of time.

The Interact Club of Wycherley annually honours the great idol. Students who enter the junior school at No. 232 Buller’s Road (Bauddhaloka Mawatha) Colombo 7, will always know the value of this multifaceted personality who created a haven for successive generations to be educated at.

A portrait of Dr. R.L. Spittel was done by David Paynter in 1937. After the doctor passed away the portrait of Dr. Spittel was gifted to the Art Gallery in 1991 by his daughter Christine Wilson where it still stands as a tribute to this honoured personality.

His photograph adorns the library of the school at Wycherley, the room so dear to his heart, as that was his study, filled with thousands of books.

We at Wycherley will always revere Dr. R.L. Spittel as we tread the corridors and rooms in the school. Dr. Spittel was a man who could walk with Kings and yet never lose the common touch.