Fresh + blowy but fair. Walked in town + over to Firs1 where Baptie2 picked me up + drove me to Dunsdale + Broomhill. In the evening before dinner had to drive down to Bridgelands to see a child of Anderson the coachman.3 Went to a meeting in Victoria Hall at which Conan Doyle made an excellent speech.4
1 Dr Muir had been attending Alice Smith née Paterson (1863-1943) of The Firs, Selkirk (wife of Patrick ‘Pat’ Smith (1858-1930), advocate and sheriff-substitute) who had given birth on 13 January 1904 but had been unwell since.
2 Thomas Baptie (1860-1929), driver and handyman for Dr Muir.
3 Thomas Gardner Anderson was coachman at Bridgelands in 1904 [Valuation Rolls] but not in the 1901 Census when Neil Grant was the coachman there. The same Thomas Anderson may be the coachman recorded at Dandswall in the 1911 Census with his wife Janet Thomson Forrest Anderson née Todd (married 1895 at Traquair, Peeblesshire) and children Catherine, 14, Robina, 13, Jeanie, 11, Agnes, 8, Mary, 6, Margaret, 4, and Thomas, 2. Spoiler: The child that was attended may have been Jemima Anderson (1901-1904) who died 1 August 1904 at Bridgelands.
4 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) spent time at Selkirk in early 1904 supporting the fundraising for a new bridge at Selkirk. It was not the only time Conan Doyle was in Selkirk that year, see Dr Muir’s diary entry for 21 January 1904.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/7, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1904]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 