2 March 1923 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

A most welcome blaze of sunlight this morning + all forenoon it was very pleasant but it gradually got duller + then rained again. Met Dav.¹ at Isaac Piercy’s² where he curetted Mrs P.³ Then I was at Viewfield⁴ from 11 till 3.20. Dav. operated on Mrs Fowler⁵ for appendicitis + then a short circuit for a (probably) malignant condition.⁶ Then he did an appendicitis on Mrs Lumgair’s cook aet 60.⁷ Cycled to Shawpark + gave Boylan an enema.⁸ Helen⁹ was at Melrose seeing Kennedys¹⁰ + Chrystals.¹¹ Mrs Mack¹² capped all previous gifts by giving me lib. triginti!¹³

¹ David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.

² Isaac Piercy (1888-1973), woollen yarn storeman, living at 8 Raeburn Place, Selkirk (though there were two other individuals named Isaac Piercy in the 1921 Census – Isaac Alexander Piercy junior (1920-1979), son of Isaac Piercy above and Isaac Douglas Piercy (1908-1979).

³ Margaret Piercy née Brown (1889-1973), wife of Isaac Piercy (1888-1973), woollen yarn storeman [marriage: Piercy, Isaac and Brown, Margaret, 1910, 778 / 25, Selkirk].

⁴ Viewfield Nursing Home, the Muir & Graham medical co-partnership’s property.

⁵ Mrs Fowler is probably Janet Fowler née Latto (1868-1924), wife of William Fowler (about 1863-1933), Inspector of Poor and Registrar, Selkirk.

⁶ Janet Fowler was later diagnosed with tuberculosis of the caecum so presumably the “short circuit” was an colon resection of some sort.

⁷ Conceivably Mary Morton (1869-1930), Kirkcudbrightshire-born “cook” at The Priory, Ettrick Road, Selkirk in the 1921 Census (though in that case Dr Muir has misjudged her age).

⁸ John Dun Boylan (1850-1924), civil engineer and acquaintance of Dr Muir, of Shawpark, Selkirk.

⁹ Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper.

¹⁰ The Kennedy family comprised 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, his wife Mary Balfour Alison and their sons Ian Alexander Kennedy (1916-1988) and Charles Gordon Kennedy (1920-). [Caveat Emptor: There is a problem with this identification because some evidence suggests that Kennedy had already moved to Croydon.]

¹¹ The Reverend James Robert Chrystal (about 1840-1930), Congregational Church minister, and his daughter Alice Margaret Wilkie Chrystal (1872-1948) [1921 Census]. His wife Margaret Sophia Chrystal née Riddell had died in 1913.

¹² Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946), of Elm Park, Selkirk.

¹³ The Editor does not have the Classical knowledge to interpret this text but the consensus is that this is not a reference to 30 pounds or 30 books! Information would be gratefully received.

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/26, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1923]