Fair day. Cool. W. wind. Not a single message. Cycled round town + to Haining Henhouse1: then to Whitlaw to see Wm Wood2. Left my bicycle at Half Crown Corner3 + walked to Whitlaw + then to the Kips4 where I had a glorious view. Got back at 3. David5 asked me to go to Cotfield6 to see Wm Welsh7 at 8 O’Clock. Left at 8.14 + cycled to Cotfield without dismounting (except at Volunteer Hall) in 48m + returned in 52. The Patons8, who are staying at Wellwood9, called. The caravan which has been standing in the park for several weeks left today10. Dora11 + the boys Baxter12 went to Ettrickbridgend to the Douglas Browns13 + [illegible] went with Mrs Mack14 to the Picture House.
1 Henhouse, The Haining, Selkirk, home of the Laidlaw family
2 William Wood was Occupier at Over Whitlaw Farm, Galashiels (Canmore ID 341862), grid reference NGR NT517,300 as opposed to Nether Whitlaw (ID 100153), NT513,296
3 Half Crown Corner, Lindean Moor, ENE of Selkirk, grid reference NGR NT501,296
4 Whitlaw Kips is north west of Whitlaw at grid reference NGR NT508,303 (the Borders Abbey Way passes below its summit)
5 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner
6 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
7 William Welsh, ploughman, was Inhabitant Occupier not rated of a house at Cotfield, Lilliesleaf [1922 Valuation Roll, VR011600033-/884, Roxburgh County, page 884 of 993]
8 The Patons were Isabella Clementina ‘Isa’ Paton (about 1838-1929) and Marion Agnes Paton (about 1841-1940), sisters living on their own means at Selkirk until May 1918 when they had flitted to Galashiels
9 Wellwood, Ettrick Terrace, home of John ‘Jack’ Roberts junior and Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir and their children Andrina Barbara Henderson ‘Barbara’ Roberts, later Thwigg, John Stewart ‘Jock’ Roberts, Louisa Jane Roberts, later Rutherford, Stewart Muir ‘Little Stewart’ Roberts and George Edward ‘Tim’ Roberts
10 On 12 May 1922 Dr Muir noted that “Somebody with a 2 horse caravan is in the park close to the farms.”
11 Andrina Dorothy ‘Dora’ Muir (1882-1978), nurse and Dr Muir’s youngest daughter
12 Cyril Ross Baxter (1915-1997) and Erik Sandeman Baxter (1919–1999), sons of Lily Birgitta Baxter formerly Lindback and Harold Ross Baxter, manager, of 47 Södra Vägen 50, 412 54 Göteborg, Sweden [Consular Returns 1915, 164/CL 161 and 1919, 164/CL 407]; they are the brothers of Enid Gordon Baxter, later Thorn (1917-2013) who appears in Dr Muir’s diary on a number of occasions in May 1922
13 There is nobody in the Valuation Rolls that matches, though Dora Muir did attend the marriage at Ashwood, Galashiels on 17 September 1918 of her nursing friend Margaret Meikle ‘Peggy’ Donald of 2 Melville Street, Edinburgh, to James Douglas Brown (1888-) of Galashiels who was at that time Lieutenant K.O.S.B. attached R.A.F. and British Expeditionary Force; Dr Muir noted at the time that “Dora was at the wedding of her friend Miss Donald to one of the Ashwood Browns.” [Dr Muir’s diary entry for 17 September 1918, Heritage Hub Reference No. SBA/657/21/48]
14 Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946), of Elm Park, Selkirk
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 