Cold + dull + wet in afternoon from N.W. Gave the child Harvey, Goslaw Green1 chlor[oform] + extracted a molar which Dav.2 had broken. Cycled via Hospital + Mill Street + General’s Bridge to Newburgh.3 Jas. Mitchell4 sent for Dav. a few days ago because he didn’t like to bring me out during the night! Then I went on to Ettrickhill + Craighill.5 Got fine drink of creamy milk from Grace.6 They are starting to drain the swampy meadow between the Ettrick + Tima.7 It rained all the way home. My run was over 40 miles. Helen8 was at Gilmanscleuch.9 Took high tea at 5. Called a meeting of cyclists in Isa Fair’s room.10 Mrs Kemp11 + her men [?] turned up. Arranged for a cycle run on 31st.
1 The child Harvey at Goslaw Green, Selkirk, is unidentified.
2 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., Ch.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.
3 Newburgh, between Gilmanscleuch and Tushielaw, grid reference NGR NT323,200.
4 Assume James Mitchell senior (about 1854-1929), farmer and tenant at Henderland Farm, Megget parish, north of St Mary’s Loch. For more detail see Dr Muir’s diary entry for 12 May 1923.
5 Craighill and Ettrickhill, Ettrick, both area of grid reference NT262,145.
6 Assume Grace Linton Anderson née Davidson (1894-1963), second wife of John Laidlaw Anderson, shepherd, of Craighill, Ettrick. They had married 1919 at Ettrick.
7 There is a substantial area shown as marshy on the south west corner where the Tima Water joins the Ettrick Water, area of grid reference NGR NT271,142, see Ordnance Survey six inch Selkirkshire Sheet XVIII, surveyed 1858, published 1862.
8 Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and housekeeper.
9 It is not obvious whom Helen was visiting, perhaps either the Linton or Storrie families or Miss Lizzie Elliot, teacher.
10 The Editor assumes that Isa Fair is Isabella McHull or McCaull Fair (1862-1941), who was recorded with her sister Wilhelmina Fair at 26 High Street, Selkirk (1921 Census) but it is not obvious why the cyclists held their meeting about Bicycle Week at hers (see Dr Muir’s diary entry for 14 May 1923).
11 Mrs Kemp cannot be identified from this information.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/26, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1923]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 