I was rung up at 6 this morning about Willie Laidlaw, Haining + from the description Johnny1 gave I think he must have an attack of shingles. I got all my preparations completed + motored to the station, thinking the train left at 9.45 but found it was 10.13! Nancy + Barbara2 saw me off, Nancy kindly taking [?] a return ticket for me. I got a corner seat at Galashiels + had a very comfortable journey. From Hawick I had the compartment with one other passenger with whom I talked all the way to Carlisle. He was a Lancashire factor [illegible] who had cycled to Dunfermline + was on the way home. He got out at Carlisle + [word deleted] another man came who left at Leeds. The country up the Eden + down the Aire was looking its best but oh the dismal Black Country!3 I had tea + dinner on board the train. Got a taxi from St Pancras to [illegible] + reached Hopetoun4 at 9.40. Willie’s5 car met me + brought me up to Scotstoun6 where I was welcomed by Cissy Waldie7 + found dear Mary8 marvellously well + bearing up under her heavy load most [illegible]. I got a very pleasant surprise when we found Maggie McClure9 also.
1 William Braid Laidlaw (1902-1985), whom Dr Muir had been attending for what may have been Diphtheria; the son of John (presumably Johnny) Laidlaw, saw miller, and Agnes Laidlaw née Taylor, brother of John Laidlaw (1904-) and Robert Braid Laidlaw (1906-), all living at Henhouse, The Haining, Selkirk at the 1911 Census
2 Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir, Dr Muir’s daughter, and his eldest granddaughter Andrina Barbara Henderson ‘Barbara’ Roberts, later Thwigg
3 It is not obvious what Dr Muir is referring to here because it seems that he has crossed the Pennines to Leeds and travelled south down the East Coast mainline (or a similar route) to St Pancras which would mean he missed the West Midlands, the traditional Black Country
4 Hopetoun is not identified but is presumably near or part of Haslemere, Surrey
5 William Edward ‘Willie’ Muir (1872-1948), son of Francis Muir (1839-1912), Dr Muir’s brother; in 1922 he is noted as of Rowallan, Haslemere, Surrey
6 Scotstoune, Haslemere, home of James and Mary Jane Wallace née Muir
7 Cissy Waldie is unidentified but is presumably a relative of Amy Kathleen Waldie (1889-1960), born Bothwell, Lanarkshire [1911 Census], the daughter of James Francis Waldie, colliery manager, and Annie Massey Waldie MS Cowan, married 1884, Dundalk, Co. Louth; Amy was at Scotstoun(e), Haslemere in 1911 Census, recorded as James’s niece
8 Mary Jane Wallace née Muir (1836-), Dr Muir’s sister, daughter of The Reverend Francis Muir and Mary Jane Logan; married 25 September 1866 at 15 North Fort Street, North Leith [her home], James Wallace, at which time he was a wool salesman, of Charlotte Place, Edinburgh; at the time of his death they were at Scotstoune, Haslemere (also there in 1901 Census)
9 Conceivably Evelyn Margaret McClure (1906-1983), daughter of Alexander Logan ‘Sandy’ McClure, advocate, and Jessie Evelyn Ramsay ‘Eva’ McClure née Hotson
[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 