Lovely forenoon though wind cold : heavy showers in afternoon but fine again. David1 was away shooting with Dees2 + Charlie Roberts3 about Hume. I cycled to Eastfield + then via Kippilaw + Cavers Carre by the footbridge to Bewlie Mains + home by Lilliesleaf + Greenhill.4 I haven’t been across Salters Ford5 for many years. Had to go down to Pinegrove6 after lunch. About 9.45 I had to go to Whitmuirhall Toll with Fowler7 to see a tramp who had been knocked down by a lad on a bicycle. The tramp was very drunk + was cut about the face + ears. The boy – Nicolson from Bowden8 – had a black eye + slight concussion. I couldn’t go down to meet Jean9 who had come by the last train.
1 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., Ch.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.
2 Assume Robert Irwin ‘Robber’ Dees (1872-1923), landed proprietor, formerly a marine engineer, son of James William Dees and Eliza Jane Irwin. He controversially inherited a substantial legacy and then moved his family from Newcastle to Faldonside to enjoy its new wealth.
3 Charles Henry ‘Charlie’ Roberts (1877-1954), born New Zealand, tweed manufacturer, at Mauldsheugh, Selkirk, 1911 Census, ‘manufacturer’, at Thornfield, 25 Scott’s Place, Selkirk, 1921 Census and 1919 and 1922 Valuation Rolls [1922 Valuation Roll, VR007900012-/260, Selkirk Burgh, page 260 of 644].
4 Eastfield, grid reference NGR NT540,289, Kippielaw, area of NT548,289, Bewlie Mains, NT551,254, and Cavers Carre, area of NT551,268, see all locations on Ordnance Survey six inch Roxburghshire Sheet XIV, published 1863.
5 Salters Ford footbridge crosses the Ale Water at grid reference NT558,263, see Ordnance Survey six inch Roxburghshire Sheet XIV, published 1863.
6 Perhaps to see the Laurie family (George Laurie, woollen mill engineman, Elizabeth Jane Douglas Laurie née King and baby John Laurie, born October 1922) at Pinegrove, Selkirk.
7 William Fowler (about 1863-1933), Public Assistance Officer, Inspector of Poor and Registrar at Selkirk.
8 The best fit is William Dodds Nicholson (1905-), son of Gideon Nicholson, carter, and Isabella Nicolson née Jamieson. They were all living in Bowden Village Street at the time of the 1921 Census. Sources include: 1921 Census 783/ 1/ 4 Bowden, Roxburgh and birth Nicholson, William Dodd, 1905 783 / 11 Bowden.
9 Jane Henderson Logan ‘Jean’ Pike née Muir (1877-1941), Dr Muir’s widowed eldest daughter, living in Edinburgh.
[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 