12 July 1923 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

A magnificent day with constant sunshine + a nice cool N.W. breeze. The King + Queen visited the Borders via Peebles, Rink, Lindean, Abbotsford, Melrose, Eildon Hall (lunch), St Boswells, Dryburgh, Bemersyde, Leaderfoot, Lauder [and] Soutra.¹ Mrs Mack² took Nancy,³ Helen⁴ + me in a car to Yair Bridge⁵ where we waited more than an hour for a fleeting glance of them. Then via Boleside + Galafoot to [word deleted] Darnick Toll⁶ – a glimpse – + finally to Bemersyde Hill⁷ where they stopped to see the view just where we were standing. The Countess of Minto⁸ I don’t know how or why seemed to recognise me. We came back by Mertoun Bridge + Melrose⁹ : Jack¹⁰ was at lunch with the Royal party at Eildon Hall.¹¹

¹ The Royal tour toured the Borders arriving via Penicuik at Peebles and travelling eastwards through Rink, NT482,323, Lindean, NT483,311, Abbotsford, NT508,342, Melrose, NT546,340, Eildon Hall, NT562,323, St Boswells, NT593,309, Dryburgh, NT592,318, Bemersyde, NT592,333, Leaderfoot, NT574,348, Lauder, NT530,475 and exiting via Soutra, NT452,594, Pathhead and Dalkeith. There is detailed coverage of the entire trip in the Southern Reporter of Thursday 19 July 1923.

² Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946), of Elm Park, Selkirk.

³ Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir (1878-1948), Dr Muir’s second daughter.

⁴ Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper.

⁵ Yair Bridge, Caddonfoot, NT458,325.

⁶ The Editor assumes that Dr Muir means the Melrose Bridge Toll Post north west of Darnick at grid reference NGR NT529,346 and shown on Ordnance Survey 25 inch Roxburghshire VII.4 (Melrose), published about 1860, but not visible on Ordnance Survey 25 inch Roxburghshire nIV.14, revised 1919, published 1921.

⁷ Bemersyde Hill, with Scott’s View immediately below to its west, is at grid reference NGR NT596,344 and a little to the north of Bemersyde House.

⁸ Marion Wilhelmina Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound née Cook (1896-1974), Countess of Minto.

⁹ The party travelled south then east from Bemersyde passing Clintmains, NT612,325, to cross Mertoun Bridge, NT610,320, to reach Melrose, NT550,310, on the south side of the River Tweed.

¹⁰ John ‘Jack’ Roberts junior (1876-1966), Nancy’s husband, thus Dr Muir’s son-in-law. As a businessman and three-time Provost of Selkirk, it is not surprising that he was invited to such an event.

¹¹ The lunch at Eildon Hall near St Boswells, Roxburghshire was hosted by the Earl and Countess of Dalkeith. Eildon Hall was the principal residence of the Earls of Dalkeith, heirs to the Dukedom of Buccleuch. At this time the Earl was Walter Montagu Douglas Scott (1894-1973) who at the following General Election, held 6 December 1923, was elected M.P. for Roxburgh and Selkirk and who in 1939 attended Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday celebrations [Tate, Tim, ‘Hitler’s British Traitors: The Secret History of Spies, Saboteurs and Fifth Columnists’, London, Icon Books, 2018].

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