A nice day but rather spoilt by a strong W. wind. There was a little hoar frost. Dav.1 asked me to go to Smailholm Mains to see a lad Cockburn2 (son of Mrs Cockburn whose foot was amputated in May3). I cycled there in 1h 40m via St Boswells + Smailholm village. Came back in 1h 57m by Mainberry4 which is ¾ mile farther. Got back to lunch at 2.30 + then cycled to Hutlerburn to see Rob Brockie5 who had fallen + burst his side. 44.25 miles for 2 insured patients!6 Cycled part of the way back with Birkett7 who is to exchange with Ross8 tomorrow but but I left him at Colin’s Bridge9 as he couldn’t take the hill.
1 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., Ch.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.
2 The lad Cockburn could be any one of William, Thomas or Andrew, the sons of Andrew Cockburn and Mary Cockburn née Thomson. The family was at Prieston, Bowden at the time of the 1921 Census which will explain why they were patients of the Muir and Graham medical partnership while at Smailholm, from where it is a very gentle walk into Berwickshire just a few fields away.
3 Mary Cockburn née Thomson, married to Andrew Cockburn at Kelso in 1894, whose operation is not explicitly mentioned in Dr Muir’s diary in May 1923, although there is a reference to Dr Muir and Dr Graham visiting Smailholm Mains together on 28 April 1923, presumably for a consultation that led to the surgery referred to here.
4 Assume Old Mainberry, grid reference NGR NT667,357, is a little to the south east of Smailholm on the Earlston – Kelso road, as Dr Muir notes a small diversion.
5 Robert Brockie (1888-), son of Thomas Brockie and Isabella Brockie née Cowie, was at Whitehillbrae, Kirkhope with his family at the time of the 1921 Census but was very possibly working on Hutlerburn, Kirkhope, Tenant / Occupier William Brockie, only a few yards down the road.
6 The Editor trusts that Dr Muir was not exploiting the mileage rate allowed for visiting insured medical patients.
7 The Reverend Robert Birkett (1846-1937), Free Church Minister, Ettrick, born Abdie, Fife, died Selkirk.
8 The Reverend Andrew Ross (1871-1942), Church of Scotland minister, who moved to Selkirk in 1903 and was there until his retiral with the exception of a period in early 1918 when he was in France with the Scottish Churches Huts.
9 The Editor is not clear what hill Dr Muir is alluding to at Colin’s Bridge, NT429,266, just south of Bowhill.
[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 