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

On Jessie Boyd’s invitation¹ I went with the B. N. Club to Glendearg.² Jessie hired from Bryson³ + I went down to Faldonside in the Dodge + picked up Jessie, Ailie⁴, Emma⁵ + the Rev. Aitken of Ayton.⁶ It went to Gattonside Bridge + on to Glendearg where we inspected the 3 towers, Hillslap at Glendearg, Colmslie + Langshaw.⁷ Then we went via Bluecairn to Carolside + saw through the garden + home to Faldonside for tea. Spoke to Shirra Gibb.⁸ It was a dry day but windy + rather cold. There would be about 100 there. Got letter from Dora ⁹ + sent it on to Helen¹⁰

¹ Jessie Milne Brack Boyd (1867-1961), of Faldonside, herself a plantswoman and gardener, whose father Mr William Boyd of Faldonside apparently “well upheld the botanical tradition of the Club.” [Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists Society]

² Berwickshire Naturalists Club. Their trip to Glendearg was recorded in Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists Society, Volume XXV. 43, 1923.

³ Bryson’s motor dealership at Selkirk offered hire cars.

⁴ Ailie Brack Boyd Wilson or Boyd-Wilson, later Milne (1890-1955), born Alie Brack Boyd-Wilson, Sep Quarter 1890, Blean, Kent, 2a 809; sometimes officially recorded as Alice but correctly recorded on the 1911 Census when she, her mother Mary Ethel and sister Dawn were at Elwyn Road, Exmouth, Devon; changed her name to Ailie Brack Boyd Wilson Milne, 25 June 1920 [London Gazette, 30 November 1920]; died March Quarter 1955, aged 64, Hendon 5e 628.

⁵ Assume Emma Mary Brack Boyd (1865-1949), born March Quarter 1865, Glendale, Northumberland, later lived at Alfriston, Sussex and died 16 May 1949 at Eastbourne, Sussex.

⁶ The Reverend James John Lang Aiken (1857-1933), Church of Scotland minister, son of James Aiken junior, shipbuilder, and Ann Isabella Aiken née Reid. Born Ruby Cottage, Silver Street, Aberdeen, he passed M.A., Aberdeen 1877 and B.D., Edinburgh 1880 and was licened by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in 1880. After time as a private tutor he was appointed assistant at Angle Park Chapel, afterwards St Michael’s, Edinburgh, and ordained at Ayton, Berwickshire on 30 November 1882. During his time at Ayton he was the Hon. Secretary of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, 1903 and was Editor of the Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club from the same date [sources include Statutory BMDs and Fasti Ecclesiæ scoticanæ Vol. 2].

⁷ Berwickshire Naturalists Club visited Hillslap Tower, Melrose, Canmore ID 55601, grid reference NGR NT51315,39375, Colmslie Tower, Melrose, Canmore ID 55594, grid reference NGR NT51336,39615, and Langshaw Tower, Canmore ID 55583, grid reference NGR NT51696,39769, all Melrose, Roxburghshire.

⁸ Assume Robert Shirra Gibb (1847-1924), M.B., C.M., D.P.H., medical practitioner and farmer, sometime Medical Officer of Health for Berwickshire. Author of ‘A Farmer’s Fifty Years in Lauderdale’, Oliver and Boyd, 1927. The son of George Shirra Gibb, landed proprietor, and Margaret Gibb née Turnbull, Robert Shirra Gibb married Christian Lockie on 20 October 1874 at Govan.

⁹ Andrina Dorothy ‘Dora’ Muir (1882-1978), nurse and Dr Muir’s youngest daughter, was living and working in Egypt.

¹⁰ Helen Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper, was evidently still away, presumably at Haslemere in Surrey.

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