Very keen dry frost + roads very bad for walking. It was a clear sunny day : some fog in valleys. Saw a dozen cases walking + motored to Midlem Old Manse to see John Cochrane1 who has Bright’s Disease (probably granular kidney). Went on to Lilliesleaf + Chapel. Helen2, Winifred3 + Mrs Mack4 went to Lord Dalkeith5 meeting in Union Hall.
1 Assume John Cochrane (about 1856-1929), joiner, recorded living with his wife Elizabeth at Burn Cottage, Midlem (1921 Census) but 1916-1925 recorded at Rose Cottage, Midlem (Valuation Rolls). It has not so been possible to match either of these with the Old Manse which was shown at the north west of the main road on contemporary Ordnance Survey mapping but at the north east end on modern mapping.
2 Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper.
3 Margaret ‘Winifred’ Armitage (1874-1970), daughter of William Armitage, cotton merchant, and Margaret Petrie Armitage née Mills. Winifred’s sister Dorothy had married Francis ‘Frank’ Muir (1877-1972), electrical engineer and son of the Reverend Gavin Struthers ‘Guy’ Muir, Dr Muir’s brother.
4 Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946), of Elm Park, Selkirk.
5 Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott (1894-1973), 8th Duke of Buccleuch from 1935 but at this time Earl of Dalkeith. Lord Dalkeith was to take Sir Thomas Henderson’s parliamentary seat for Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire on 6 December 1923 when Dalkeith received 11,258 votes (43.1%) to Henderson’s 8,046 (30.8%) with George Dallas in third place with 6,811 (26.1%).
[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 