Strong S.W. Gale + heavy rain. Rivers flooded. Storm continued all day. Tapped hydrocele for man Knox1 who comes from Peebles but whose son is steward at Netherbarns.2 Drove to Firs, Thirladean, Bowhill, Blackandro = (new people called Souness3), Broadmeadows (lunch), Yarrowford, Lindean + town. Had to go out after dinner to see Mr Hope, High Street4, a tramp at Shelter [?] House + Mr Boyd Ivybank’s boy.5
1 James Knox, agricultural labourer, may be the outworker recorded at West Bold, Traquair, Peeblesshire in the 1901 Valuation Roll but he is not recorded in the corresponding Census for Berwickshire, Peeblesshire or Selkirkshire.
2 Thomas Young Knox (1872-) was steward at Netherbarns, Galashiels in 1904 Valuation Roll and is recorded as farm steward in the 1901 Census with his wife Jessie Murray Knox nee Wilson (1869-) and their children Mary Fortune (1896-), James (1898-) and Walter Wilson (1901-).
3 George Souness was recorded as Inhabitant Occupier of a house at Blackandro, Kirkhope in 1903, 1904 and 1905 but not thereafter. He is otherwise unidentified.
4 There was more than one Hope entry in the Valuation Rolls for High Street, Selkirk so this individual will remain unidentified for the moment..
5 Mr Boyd was John Boyd, woollen warehouseman, of Ivy Bank, Hillside Terrace, Selkirk, recorded in the 1901 Census with his wife Agnes Boyd nee Gow and their only child Alexander John Boyd (1891-).
[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 