27 June 1922 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

Dull day + coldish. Some rain in the evening. All I did was to see 4 town cases, Hospital + Gib. + Lum.¹ I was in the house all afternoon. Wrote several letters, to Helen², Tom Alexander³, Mrs Dubs⁴, Mrs Passy⁵ (who sent me a lot of Devonshire cream) + to the Local Gen. Sec. of the Glasgow meeting⁶. Got a letter from Amy Waldie⁷ telling me that Jas. Wallace⁸ was seriously ill + I wrote Mary⁹. Dora Thomson¹⁰, Backrow ill. Dora¹¹ + the boys¹² were at Elmpark¹³ for tea.

¹ Gibson & Lumgair Ltd., woollen textile manufacturer, at St Mary’s Mill, Selkirk

² Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper

³ Tom Alexander is unidentified

⁴ Margaret Forsyth Dubs, formerly Smith, née Arthur (1853-1935), widow of Frank Albert Dubs, who had flitted after her husband’s death from Yair Mansion, Caddonfoot, Selkirkshire to a house called Woodbourne at Wemyss Bay, Inverkip, Renfrewshire sometime after 12 March 1921 (c.f. Dr Muir’s diary entry for 12 March 1921)

⁵ Mrs Passy (whom Dr Muir had met in early June 1922) was Dr David Graham’s sister Margaret Alexandra ‘Peggy’ Passy née Graham (1893-1973), who had married Frederic Harry Burn Passy, Indian Army in 1914 at Kidderpore, Bengal, India; they later lived at Blachford, Cornwood, Devon

⁶ The meeting of the British Medical Association (B.M.A.)

⁷ Amy Kathleen Waldie (1889-1960), born Bothwell, Lanarks., Scotland [1911 Census]. daughter of James Francis Waldie, colliery manager, and Ann or Annie Maria, later Massie, Waldie MS Cowan, married 1884, Dundalk, Co. Louth [1884, Jul-Aug-Sep, Dundalk, Ireland, Volume 2, Page number 671, FHL Film Number 101254]; Amy was at Scotstoun(e), Haslemere in 1911 recorded as James’s niece and in the 1939 England and Wales Register Amy K Waldie lived at Rowallan, Haslemere with William and Logie Muir

⁸ James Wallace (about 1841-1922), born Carrickfergus, Ireland [1911 Census], husband of Dr Muir’s sister Mary Jane Muir; they had married 25 September 1866 at 15 North Fort Street, North Leith [her home], at which time he was a wool salesman, of Charlotte Place, Edinburgh but by 1901 they were at Scotstoune, Haslemere, Surrey; evidently he had been ill for a while because in April 1919 Dr Muir noted “Letter from May Atkins if Dora could go + nurse Jas. Wallace.”

⁹ Mary Jane Wallace née Muir (1836-1933), daughter of Francis Muir (1797-1871), presbyterian minister, and Jane Muir née Logan, thus Dr Muir’s sister

¹⁰ Dora Thomson is presumably Dorothy ‘Dora’ Thomson (1860-1928) who lived at Back Row, Selkirk in 1911 with her sister Margaret Thomson (1865-1943), weaver [1911 Census 778/ 4/ 5, page 5 of 17]

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 Elm Park, Selkirk, home of Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946)

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