18 February 1913 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

Another posting in the occasional series of 1913 diary entries

Still pretty cold but no rain. On high hills a sprinkling of fresh snow. Called out before breakfast to Mary Lamb¹ who had another severe attack of pain in right iliac from messages + Mrs Brown², Dunreay: Munro³, Castle Street: Adam Brown⁴, Mill Street, Davidson⁵, Bridge Street, Jo. Anderson⁶, Elmrow, Thomson⁷, Russell Cottage + Mrs Baptie⁸. Motored in Mocar⁹ to Bluecairn¹⁰, Ettrickbridgend, Singlie Inch¹¹, over Swire to Warrior’s Rest, + Yarrowford. Brought down crutches from Mrs Henderson¹², Bowhill Lodge + gave them to Tom Cunningham¹³, the Glebe. David Ingles¹⁴ began a portrait he has asked me to to allow him to paint of me. He did it in the drawing room before tea.

¹ Perhaps Mary Bella (sometimes Marybella) Lamb (1890-1954) [birth 1889, 778/60, 1889, death 1954, 778/27, Selkirk]

² Wilhelmina Alexa Brown née Mackay (about 1840-1919), wife of Andrew Brown, hosiery manufacturer, of Dunreay, Selkirk,; she was the daughter of David Mackay, heraldic painter, and Isabella Smith, previously Mackay née Morton

³ John Munro, postman, was Tenant of a house and garden at Castle Street, Selkirk [1914 Valuation Rolls, VR007900011-/57, Selkirk Burgh, page 57 of 786]; assume John Fortune Munro (1876-1918), postman and mail driver

⁴ Adam Brown is not found at Mill Street

⁵ Davidson is not found at Bridge Street

⁶ John Anderson, residenter, was Proprietor Occupier at 1914 Valuation Roll [Valuation Rolls, VR007900011-/32, Selkirk Burgh, page 32 of 786]

⁷ James Thomson, ?, was at Russell Cottage, Hillside Terrace, 1914 Valuation Roll [Valuation Rolls, VR007900011-/38, Selkirk Burgh, page 38 of 786]

⁸ Mrs Baptie could be Margaret Warwick nee Baptie (1234-1913) – but she was not a patient of Dr Muir’s judging by Dr John Wilson’s certification of her death – or possibly Thomas Baptie’s wife Janet who died in 1915 but Baptie was a relatively common name in Selkirkshire (seven adult females named Baptie died in Selkirkshire between 1913 and 1920)

⁹ The Mo-Car Syndicate, which became the Arrol-Johnston Car Company Ltd. from 1905, was a joint venture between George Johnston, locomotive engineer, Sir William Arrol MP, engineer and others (and later William Beardmore) and produced a ‘dogcart’ with transverse seats back-to-back

¹⁰ Presumably to visit Robert Johnstone, carpenter, occupier of a house at Bluecairn, Selkirk, 1913 Valuation Roll [Valuation Rolls, VR011700008-/532, Selkirk County, page 532 of 617], see also diary entries for 4th, 5th, 7th, 15th, 17th and 21st February 1913

¹¹ Euphemia ‘Euphy’ Laidlaw (1828-1913) was staying at Singlie Inch, Kirkhope, with her nephew Robert Laidlaw at the 1911 Census and he was also recorded there in the 1913 Valuation Roll (Tenant Occupier, Cottage, Inch), Kirkhope, 1913 VR011700008-; The Inch is between Singliehill End and Gilmanscleuch and is shown on Ordnance Survey 1st Edition Selkirkshire Sheet XIV, published 1863

¹² John Henderson, foreman forester, was Inhabitant Occupier at North Lodge, Bowhill, Selkirk, 1913 Valuation Roll [Valuation Rolls, VR011700008-/532, Selkirk County, page 532 of 617]

¹³ Assume Thomas Cunningham, manufacturer, Tenant Occupier at The Glebe, Selkirk, 1914 Valuation Roll [Valuation Rolls, VR007900011-/135, Burgh, page 135 of 786]

¹⁴ David Ingles David Nicholson Ingles (1888-1933), A.R.H.A., portrait artist

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/16, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1913]