There was actually 2½o frost last night at Elmpark.1 It was a brilliant morning with no wind : got duller in afternoon + began to rain between 6 + 7. Altogether we were lucky in such a day for the Common Riding. There was a huge gathering + 140 riders. I saw the start. Lord Dalkeith2 was there + came to breakfast with the Ogilvies3 + Boylan.4 Jack5 rode a horse that Dalkeith lent him. I cycled in town + to Ovenscloss, Firs + Ravensheugh, Bridgelands + Hospital. Had to see Lilly Geddes6 who was knocked over by a horse at the Gala Rigg7 where old Tom Gowanlock8, Hawthornbank, was also seriously injured. Then Mary Anne Fairgrieve9 fell + hurt her hip : a woman fainted in the Backrow + Janet Steele10 sprained her ankle. Tom Gowanlock died.
1 Elm Park, Selkirk, home of Dr Muir’s friend Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946).
2 Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott (1894-1973), at this time Earl of Dalkeith, succeeding as the 8th Duke of Buccleuch in 1935. Between war service with the 4th (Territorial) King’s Own Scottish Borderers and his succession as Duke of Buccleuch he was Member of Parliament for Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire (1923-1935).
3 William Henry Ogilvie (1869-1963), author, journalist and one of Australia’s great Bush poets, his wife Katherine Margaret ‘Madge’ Scott Anderson (1879-1965) and their family stayed at Kirklea, Ashkirk. How many were at breakfast on this occasion is not known.
4 John Dun Boylan (1850-1924), civil engineer, of Shawpark, Selkirk, an acquaintance of Dr Muir who was present when Boylan had a heart attack on 11 March 1923.
5 John ‘Jack’ Roberts junior (1876-1966), mill owner.
6 Perhaps Lilias N Geddes (about 1905-), born Glasgow but living at Scaurneuk, Yarrow and working at Selkirk [1921 Census].
7 Gala Rig is the location of the race course at Selkirk Common.
8 Thomas Govanlock (about 1842-1923), retired gardener, widower of Christina Shankies, died 7 p.m. 15 June 1923 at Hawthornbank Lodge, Selkirk, of fracture of base of skull and shock following severe injuries received at 3.30. p.m. through being “knocked down by a runaway horse on the road to Gala Rig, Sundheugh, Selkirk”, certified by James Menzies M.D.
9 Mary Ann Fairgrieve is so far unidentified.
10 Perhaps Janet Steele (1881-1957), woollen weaver, around this time living at Raeburn Place with her sister Christina [1921 Census].
[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 