18 March 1922 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

Dull cold morning but calm. The sun came out after midday + it was quite pleasant. I walked to Rosemount¹ + Tower Street + then cycled to Linglie Cottages² + Peelburnfoot. Mich. Glendinning³ i.s.q.⁴ but weaker. Was called in to Allanlea to see Tom Stenhouse⁵ with lumbago + came round by Hospital + Mavisbank. At 5.30 got message to Maycock⁶, Faldonside + found him suffering severe [illegible word] pain: might be diaphragmatic pleurisy. Bella⁷ gave up her place in a fit of temper because Helen⁸ reported a remark of Erskine Harper⁹ that he had seen her at the window!¹⁰

¹ Mrs Pattison, referred to as at Rosemount the day before, is not identified; the Kirkpatrick family was at Rosemount so that would suggest she was a servant, it may be possible to identify her when the 1921 Census is published later this year

² It is possible that Dr Muir is at Linglie Cottages to see a member of the Bell family

³ Michael Glendinning (d.1922), farmer / retired farmer, tenant occupier, house and garden at Peelburnfoot, Caddonfoot parish [1919 + 1920 Valuation Rolls] and formerly the tenant at Williamhope [1905 Valuation Roll; he died at Peelburnfoot, 19 April 1922, death certified by Dr J S Muir M.B. and was the son of William Glendinning, shepherd, and Alison Glendinning née Scott and the widower of Euphemia Riddle

⁴ In Status Quo, medical or scientific

⁵ Thomas Stenhouse (about 1865-1929), coachman, was Inhabitant Occupier not rated at Allanlea Lodge, Caddonfoot [1922, Valuation Roll, VR011700009-/362, Selkirk County, page 362 of 611]

⁶ George James Maycock (1877-1957), Born March Quarter 1877, Ryton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire March Quarter 1877, Rugby 6d 626. In 1901 he was a servant in London (St George Hanover Square) but to a Scottish family (Baird) which may explain his move to Scotland. Married, 7 June 1907, at Monzie Parish Church, Crieff, Catherine Gow of Monzie, born Braco, Perthshire, aged 32. In 1911 Census he was a butler (domestic) aged 34 at Yair, born England. In WW1 Service Record he is of Yair House, Selkirk. A poultry farmer, retired, died 29 Nov 1957, aet 80, at Crieff Cottage Hospital, usual residence Tuckethill [Tuchethill], Dollerie, Perthshire, son of James Maycock, shoemaker, and Elizabeth MS Hartley.

⁷ Isabella ‘Bella’ Paulin (1873-?1952), Dr Muir’s housekeeper

⁸ Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper

⁹ James Erskine Harper (1887-1953), barrister, son of Ebenezer Erskine Harper, sheriff substitute, and Agnes Harper née Watson married 20 April 1886 at Hamilton, Lanarks, and died 10 Dec 1953, aged 66, at the Cottage Hospital, Dunoon, usual residence Heath Bank, Blairmore, Dunoon & Kilmun, the informant was his sister Agnes Durnford nee Harper q.v. of Caerbadon House, Cleveland Walk, Bath (now known as Brandon House); he was divorced from Gladys Gilroy whom he had married 1914 at Liverpool

¹⁰ The Editor can only imagine that Bella has resigned because Harper had seen her in a state of undress

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]