Frost this morning and dense fog : damp afterwards + rain a dismal day but calm. Saw 8 cases cases [sic] walking + finished by 12. Banked some money + drew £16. 1. 9. for outlays. Dr + Mrs Kennedy1 came to lunch + we all went to a Child Welfare in the Victoria Hall2 where I introduced the Duchess3 who presented the gifts off a Xmas tree. I left soon for a meeting of Hosp. Comttee. Felt another cold coming on. Sent Xmas cards to Boucher4, Hayes5 + Somers.6
1 William Nicol Watson Kennedy (1888-1961), O.B.E., M.D. Edinburgh, M.R.C.P.Ed., D.P.E., medical officer of health and school medical officer for Selkirkshire circa 1921 but by June 1921 recorded in a similar role in Croydon, Surrey (1921 Census taken 19 June 1921), and Mary Balfour Kennedy née Alison (1889-1978).
2 The Child Welfare event does not appear to have been covered by the Souther Reporter.
3 Margaret Alice Montagu Douglas Scott née Bridgeman (1872-1954), the Duchess of Buccleuch, wife of John Charles Montagu Douglas Scott (1864-1935), 7th Duke of Buccleuch, succeeded 5 November 1914.
4 Charles James ‘Charlie’ Boucher (1877-1947), locum to Dr Muir in 1902, born Belfast, was a medical student in Snaith and Cowick, Yorkshire, West Riding in 1901 and returned to Ireland before 1915, to general practice at Donaghcloney, Co. Down, marriage in 1911 to Martha Louise Denison, and eventual death. Boucher’s aunt with whom he was living in 1901 was Jane Shearburn née Auld, daughter of Charles Auld of Greenock and Isabella Auld née Logan, sister of Jane Logan, Dr Muir’s mother, making Dr Muir and Jane Shearburn first cousins, their shared grandparents being The Reverend James Logan and Catherine Stewart.
5 Jessie Geddes Thomson Hayes née Muir (1860-1930), daughter of Alexander Muir and thus Dr Muir’s niece.
6 The Editor speculates that this refers to the Somers, a Belgian evacuee family in Selkirk during the First World War see Dr Muir’s diary, 26 December 1914, while in 1916 Dr Muir noted “Got practical effusion from Rabagliati & cards from Isa Boucher & the Somers.” [diary entry for Thursday 21 December 1916].

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