Coal Strike1
Sharp hoar frost, dull cold, dry day, E. [wind]. Cycled to Bank + Rockville. Saw Mrs Harper2 + Amos3 at Viewfield with Dav. [Graham] + then cycled to Ettrick Road, Yarrow Terrace, Fairnilee E. Lodge + Faldonside. Phyllis Dees4 down in Drawing room, Ailie and Dawn Boyd Wilson5 at lunch. Helen [Muir] supped at Viewfield. I shewed Kate Dunlop6, who was over with a message, the pictures of Mugwort + Cudweed in a Vol. of “English Botany”7 which Jessie Boyd8 lent me.
1 “In the summer of 1920 the economic boom collapsed. As prices and unemployment rose further, industrial strife became more likely. The unions planned a revival of the pre-war Triple Alliance between mining, transport and railway workers. The miners began a strike for higher wages in October 1920, with railwaymen and transport workers threatening supportive action. The government passed an Emergency Powers Bill to ensure essential services and negotiated a temporary six-month increase in wages.” Emergency Powers Bill 1920 accessed 2020.10.02
2 Margaret Jane Harper née Lyle, of Ettrick Terrace, Selkirk, wife of John Johnstone or Johnston Harper (c.1851-1932)
3 John Amos, shepherd, was “Inhabitant Occupier, not rated” at Glengaber, Yarrow, 1920 Valuation Roll
4 Phyllis Mary ‘Fiff’ Dees (1899-1920), daughter of Robert Irwin Dees (1872-1923) and Edith Mary Boileau Dees née Henderson, the new (1920) tenants at Faldonside
5 Ailie Brack Boyd Wilson or Boyd-Wilson, later Ailie Brack Boyd Wilson Milne (about 1891-1955) and Dawn Gordon Belle Brack Boyd Wilson, later Boyd Wilson Milne (1894-1980)
6 Katherine Mary ‘Kate’ Dunlop (1874-1944), nurse, sometime of Whitmuirhall, Selkirk
7 Conceivably ‘English Botany’ by James Sowerby, an illustrated multi-volume set published in 267 monthly issues 1791-1814
8 Jessie Milne Brack Boyd (1867-1961), of Faldonside, plantswoman and gardener
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/23, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1920]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 