This is one of our occasional posts of 1913 transcripts, prompted here by the changes brought about by the The National Insurance Act 1911
1st day for Med. Benefits under Insurance Act1
Soft + slushy again + quite mild all day till evening when it began to freeze. Nancy2 took Stewart3 to Edin. to consult Stiles4. Went down to Wellwood + saw them off. Got message to Bell5, Magdalen Cottage, Linglie. It was to see George, youngest son of the people I used to attend there many years ago6. He is an epileptic + lives there with his brother John + sister Joan7. Walked there as Jean8 had gone to Melrose in the motor. In the afternoon got message to Miller, Fairnilee9 where the younger boy looks like measles. Going down the hill to Yair the near back tyre – studded [word missing], burst. It has run since Aug. 19th. Norman Grieve10 came at 9 O’clock. Nancy was to have entertained him + a Mrs Howard Kerr11, a lecturer of the Imperial Mission + she has gone to Bridgepark12.
1 The National Insurance Act 1911 included “Medical treatment and attendance, including the provision of proper and sufficient medicines, and such medical and surgical appliances as may be prescribed by regulations to be made by the Insurance Commissioners (in this Act called “medical benefit”)”
2 Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir (1878-1948), Dr Muir’s second daughter
3 Stewart Muir ‘Little Stewart’ Roberts (1908-2003), Dr Muir’s grandson
4 Sir Harold Jalland Stiles (1863-1946), KBE FRCS FRCSE FRSE, MB ChB (Edinburgh) 1885, British surgeon; he held various posts at Edinburgh and in 1919 was to succeed Prof Francis Mitchell Caird (with whom Dr Muir was familiar) as Regius Professor of Clinic Surgery at Edinburgh University
5 George Bell (about 1874-1913), sometime bookseller and stationer, born about 1874, Holmfirth, Yorkshire, died at Magdalene Cottage, Linglie Road, Selkirk, 20 January 1913, aged 39, of “Epilepsy 24 years, Cerebral haemorrhage 5 days” ; son of John Bell, tweed designer, and Joan Bell née Scott; see also diary entry for 19 January 1913
6 John Bell, designer, appears to have been there since at least 1881 but the property was only named in the Valuation Roll from 1882 when it was recorded as Magdala Cottage [VR011700006-/266, Selkirk County, Page 266 of 513 and VR011700006-/300, Selkirk County, Page 300 of 513]
7 Joan Bell (1858-) and John Bell (1859-); his other siblings were Euphemia, Helen, Elizabeth, Alexander, Caroline and Williamina
8 Jane Henderson Logan ‘Jean’ Muir (1877-1941), Dr Muir’s eldest daughter
9 Peter Miller, gamekeeper, was Inhabitant Occupier not rated at Robin’s Nest on the Fairnilee estate, 1913 Valuation Roll [Valuation Rolls 1913 VR011700008-/517, Selkirk County, Page 517 of 617]
10 Mrs Howard Kerr is not identified other than as a lecturer for the Imperial Mission; see also diary entry for 16 January 1913
11 Norman Grieve appears to be Norman William Grieve (1852-1936), son of William Grieve and Sarah Clark, born Hawick, who worked in tropical agriculture and as the director of public companies (rubber and tea companies according to A Hawick Word Book); see also diary entries for 16 and 17 January 1913
12 Bridgepark, Old Bridge Road; Andrew Lusk Allan, manufacturer, was occupier in the 1915 Valuation Roll
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/16, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1913]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 