Beautiful day. Bob Wallace1 went down to Portsmouth at 8.24 and Helen2 + I followed at 11.27 reaching P. [Portsmouth] before 1. We got return tickets for single fare. We met Bob at the Reception room : + lunched at the Corner House where we were kept waiting a long time. Then we took [a] tram to Dockyard + were shown over it : the Victory : + Victoria + Albert.3 It was all very interesting but rather tiring. Then we went by tram to Southsea where Amy4 wanted to buy a hat + had dinner at the Royal Cafe. Walked back to Theatre Royal + saw a performance of Treasure Island with Bourchier as the Pirate Captain.5 We had to leave before the end to catch the 11.5 which landed [?] us at Haslemere at 12.17. We had a lovely + jocund [?] moonlight walk up Farnham Lane [?]. At the Royal Cafe I left my ring in the lavatory + it was brought to me by a man who turned out to be a friend of Joe Muir’s6 named Jobson.7 The day’s outing + entertainment cost me £3. 3. 6.
1 The implication that Wallace is a medic (Dr Muir’s diary entry for 25 July 1923) points to his being Robert William Lessel (or Leslie) Wallace (1881-1930), M.C., M.B., Ch.B., M.D., medical practitioner, born Turriff, Aberdeenshire, studied George Watson’s College and Edinburgh University, in medical practice at Woking, Surrey in 1923 [sources include: UK Medical Register, 1923].
2 Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and housekeeper.
3 H.M.Y. Victoria and Albert was Britannia’s predecessor as royal yacht. Constructed at Pembroke Dock, launched 1899 and in service from 1901. She was decommissioned as royal yacht in 1939 but saw war service thereafter. She was broken up in 1954. Victoria and Albert must have been alongside at Portsmouth Dockyard when Dr Muir and Helen visited as she is listed as one of the local ‘attractions’ on the British Medical Association’s syllabus for its 1923 conference.
4 Amy Kathleen Waldie (1889-1960), James Wallace’s niece who lived at Scotstoun, Haslemere, Surrey [see for example the 1911 England Census for Scotstoun].
5 Arthur Bourchier (1863-1927), actor and theatre manager, appeared as Long John Silver in the 1923 touring production of Treasure Island.
6 Joseph Corbett ‘Joe’ Muir (1872-1949), M.D., medical practitioner, in 1923 recorded as working at West Ham Infirmary, Whipps Cross, London E11. The son of Dr Muir’s brother Alexander ‘Alec’ Muir (1831-1915), and Jessie Muir née Thomson. Brother of Jessie Geddes Hayes née Muir.
7 The two best possibilities (based on being in the Medical Directory 1923 and living in the relevant area) were James Stanley Jobson (1884-), M.B., B.C., medical practitioner, of Beechwood, Church Street, Epsom and Thomas Battersby Jobson (1872-1956), M.B., B.Ch., medical practitioner, of Netherwood, Epsom Road, Guildford.
[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 