29 December 1922 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

When I got back from Gala last night or rather when I returned from Ashkirk I found a wire from Drever¹ summoning a meeting of the Scott. Rural Practice. Sub-Com^ttee to consider a proposed reduction of the mileage grant to Scotland. David² had several operations but he got Alice Smith³ to give the Chlor[oform] + I went to town at 10.13. At the meeting we resolved to resist the proposal + at a meeting after with the Board of Health we told them so. I had lunch at the Caley Restaurant with Dr + Mrs Craig⁴ + [text deleted] Dr Martin [sic].⁵ Came out by the 4.20 with a bad coryza + was unable to dine at Mauldsheugh⁶ but Helen⁷ went.

¹ James Richan Drever (1873-1956), M.A., M.B., F.R.C.P.Ed., medical practitioner and administrator, born Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, M.A., 1893, M.B., C.M. (Glasgow), 1906, Scottish Medical Secretary of the B.M.A., 1919- [“J. R. Drever, M.A., M.B., F.R.C.P.Ed. Late Scottish Medical Secretary, British Medical Association.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 1, no. 3772, BMJ, 1933, pp. 725–26].

² David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., Ch.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.

³ Alice Barbara Stewart Smith (1892-1970), of the Firs, Selkirk, daughter of Patrick Smith, advocate, and Alice Smith née Paterson; a medical practitioner, M.D. (Edin. 1929), M.B., Ch.B. (Edin. 1920), Diploma in Public Health, Dublin, 1922, Diploma in Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, 1931, Alice worked in a number of medical instructions but spent most of her adult life in India and died 31 January 1970 at Amherst Cottage, Kodaikanal, South India.

⁴ Robert William Craig (1880-1952), medical practitioner, of the Surgery, Pathhead (Crichton Parish, Midlothian), and Margaret Corson Craig née Drummond (1883-1975).

⁵ William Robert Martine (1871-1956), M.B., C.M., medical practitioner, of Haddington, East Lothian, sometime Chair of the Scottish Rural Practitioners Sub-Committee and President of the Edinburgh Branch of the B.M.A., 1923-24 [”Dr. W. R. Martine.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 4995, BMJ, 1956, pp. 773–773].

⁶ Mauldsheugh, Selkirk, Dr Graham’s home.

⁷ Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper.

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