It was a damp day with occasional drizzle + the grass was pretty wet.
Had a shoot with Sam Steel1 at Dryhope2. I have not fired a shot since 1914-15. I motored from Philipgh with Sam Steel and Sir John Barran3. We started at Douglas Burn4 + walked along to Dryhope Tower + then back to the a turnip field at the …5. I shot 2 hares but failed at birds. We spent a long time trying to locate a pair of partridges. Lunched at the tower. Had a drive from the old church yard6. Got back to Philipgh at 5.30. Pringle Pattison7 there. 24 head. Saw Miss Dunn8 at night. Helen + Nancy9 cycled to [word deleted] Cotfield10 to see an old servant of Nancy’s, Mrs Lamb11.
1 Major Samuel ‘Sam’ Strang Steel (1882-1961), 1st Baronet, M.P., J.P., T.D., of Philiphaugh, Lord Lieutenant of Selkirk 1948-1958
2 Dr Muir appears to be referring here to the Dryhope estate generally
3 Sir John Nicholson Barran (1872-1952), 2nd Baronet; British Liberal Party politician and M.P. for Hawick Burghs 1909-1922 [source: Hubcat DS/UK/9025]
5 This location is unidentified
6 This is presumably the church yard of St Mary’s Chapel, Kirkstead, also known as St Mary Of The Lowes, Canmore ID 51219, grid reference NGR NT25403,23676
4 The party has started up the Douglas Burn presumably from Craig Douglas, grid reference NGR NT292,245, and across to Dryhope Tower, NGR NT26734,24727 and Kirkstead; historic maps covering the area concerned are Ordnance Survey 6 inch Selkirkshire Sheet IX, Sheet IX, Sheet XIII and Sheet XIV, all published 1863
7 This will be either Professor Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison, formerly Seth or one of his three living sons, Andrew Ernest, Norman Smith and Harry Siegfried (a fourth, John Ronald Pringle-Pattison, Second Lieutenant Gordon Highlanders, was Killed in Action 5th September 1916); if it is not Professor Pringle-Pattison himself then Norman Smith Pringle Pattison, formerly Seth (1888-), who had been at the Forest Club dinner 4 October 1921 may be the best ‘fit’
8 Assume Hyndmer Rutherford ‘Miss’ Dunn (about 1843-1922), daughter of John Dunn, chemist & druggist, and Hyndmer Rutherford Dunn née Hewat, brother of Thomas ‘Tom’ Dunn (about 1844-1921); Tenant Occupier of a house at 13 High Street, Selkirk [1921 Valuation Roll, VR007900012-/113, Selkirk Burgh, page 113 of 644]
9 Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper and Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir (1878-1948), his second daughter
10 Cotfield, Lilliesleaf, grid reference NT532,226, near Harelaw and just south of the Drove Road which heads in a generally WNW direction from the intersection at Harden Cottage just south of Esdalelaw, crosses the A7 at Grundistone Heights and eventually leads to St Boswells, see Ordnance Survey 6 inch Roxburghshire Sheet XIX, published 1863
11 This would appear to be Isabella Lamb, widow, Inhabitant Occupier of a house at Cotfield, Lilliesleaf [1921 Valuation Roll, VR011600033-/552, Roxburgh County, page 552 of 993]
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/24, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1921]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 