Kept my bed most of the day + felt easier. It was a nicer day than yesterday. Yesterday on the way back from Cheviot I was seized with cramp in my left Sartorius1 which gave me most excruciating pain for a short time.
1 See Dr Muir’s diary entries for 23 and 24 August 1922; the sartorius muscle is a thin, long, superficial muscle in the anterior compartment of the thigh [source: Moore, Keith L; Dalley, Arthur F; Agur, A M R (2013). ‘Clinically Oriented Anatomy’. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp. 545–546].
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
Brilliant morning but clouded over + finished in mist + rain. David had operations at 9 viz. Mrs Fairbairn1, [illegible], colostomy + 3 tonsils + adenoids. Left a little after 11 with Nancy, Jack2, Helen3, Stewart + Tim4 – Mitchell5 driving. + went to Sourhope6. We had meant to Kirknewton7 but were too late. We walked to Auchope Cairn but hadn’t time to do Cheviot8. I had a pain in my right side which hampered me very much but I struggled through. Got back in time to dine at Elmpark9 but my pain made me swear or grin every little while.
1 Mrs Fairbairn is (so far) unidentified.
2 Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir (1878-1948), Dr Muir’s daughter, and John ‘Jack’ Roberts junior (1876-1966).
3 Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper.
4 Stewart Muir ‘Little Stewart’ Roberts (1908-2003) and George Edward ‘Tim’ Roberts (1911-2005), Dr Muir’s youngest grandchildren.
5 Assume Alexander Mitchell (fl.1922), the Roberts’ chauffeur, “Inhabitant Occupier, not rated” of a house at Wellwood, Ettrick Terrace, Selkirk, John Roberts junior, manufacturer, Proprietor [1920 and 1921 Valuation Rolls]
6 Sourhope, grid reference NGR NT845202, sits on the Sourhope Burn and above the Bowmont Water.
7 Assume Kirknewton, Northumberland (rather than that in West Lothian – they have shortened their trip rather than changed it) at NT914,302 in Glendale parish, below Yeavering Bell and just east of where the College Burn debouches into the Bowmont Water; situated on the northern edge of the National Park boundary, Kirknewton is the only conservation area in Northumberland National Park.
8 Auchope Cairn is above Sourhope in Morebattle parish, sitting WSW of the Cheviot’s top and astride the Scotland England Border (and on the more recent Pennine Way) at NT891,198.
9 Elm Park, Selkirk, home of Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946).
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
A melancholy dismal day. It rained from the E. Up till midday then faired + came on again from the S.W. about 5. There was no wind but a steady pour. I sat at accounts in the morning till it faired + then saw a few cases + went at the accounts again after lunch. During the fair interval though there was no sunshine it was quite pleasant. Coming down the concrete stairs at 110 Forest Road I slipped + came a thump on my Sacrum + left hip which were rather sore after.
1 It is not clear if this refers to the path that cuts through the loop of Forest Road or to the steps to the house number 110 but one can probably assume that it does not refer to the Stae Brae.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
No rain. A strong cold N.W. wind dried things up, but the want of sun heat is telling in many ways. e.g. there are hardly any peas + though there are still a good many strawberries they have no taste. I soon finished the few town cases I had to see + sat at the accounts + finished them, that is the small number in my book1. Peter2 went off on his own + cycled to Colin’s Bridge + back by General’s Bridge3. Letter from Mary + a parcel with a dinner jacket.
1 At this time Dr Muir and Dr Graham were keeping their accounts separately and in 13 April 1922 diary entry Dr Muir had commented “David’s plan to keeping separate books is not working well at all.“
2 Peter Allan [sic], evidently a charge of Dora’s, is Peter Muir Spurgeon Allen (1914-2005), who was at Thorncroft, Selkirk, aged 7, in the 1921 Census [taken 19 June 1921], born 4 June 1914, Chorlton [Lancashire], the son of the Reverend Willoughby Charles Allen and Catherine Ellen Allen née Green; a head teacher (retired), he died 16 February 2005 at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, usual residence Hope Cottage, Stenton, Dunbar, East Lothian.
3 Colin’s Bridge, generally known as Carterhaugh Bridge, grid reference NGR NT42996,26664, and General’s Bridge, Selkirk, NT43282,28110 on the south and east sides of the Bowhill estate.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
Raining up till 11 + then steady on from 3.30. Wind round to E. at night which accounts for the glass keeping up. Now that Dav.1 is back I am having little to do. Saw 6 cases + passed young persons at Ettrick + Forest Mills2. Made out some accounts in the afternoon. Peter3, all alone, cycled to Yarrowford + back by Dunsdale.
1 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., Ch.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.
2 It is not clear what was being “passed” but Dr Muir evidently had a role in factory health and safety; his diary records six or seven visits to Forest Mill in 1921-22.
3 Peter Allan [sic], evidently a charge of Dora’s, is Peter Muir Spurgeon Allen (1914-2005), who was at Thorncroft, Selkirk, aged 7, in the 1921 Census [taken 19 June 1921], born 4 June 1914, Chorlton [Lancashire], the son of the Reverend Willoughby Charles Allen and Catherine Ellen Allen née Green; a head teacher (retired), he died 16 February 2005 at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, usual residence Hope Cottage, Stenton, Dunbar, East Lothian.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
They bide their time of serpentine Green lanes, in fields, with railings Round them and black cows; tall, pocked And pitted stones, grey, ochre-patched With moss, lodgings for lost spirits.
Sometimes you have to ask their Whereabouts. A bent figure, in a hamlet Of three houses and a barn, will point Towards the moor. You will find them there, Aloof lean markers, erect in mud.
Long Meg, Five Kings, Nine Maidens, Twelve Apostles: with such familiar names We make them part of ordinary lives. On callow pasture-land The Shearers and The Hurlers.
Sometimes they keep their privacy In public places: nameless slender slabs Disguised as gate-posts in a hedge; and some, For centuries on duty as scratching posts, Are screened by ponies on blank uplands.
Search out the furthest ones, slog on Through bog, bracken, bramble: arrive At short granite footings in a plan Vaguely elliptical, alignments sunk In turf strewn with sheep’s droppings;
And wonder whether it was this shrunk place The guide-book meant, or whether Over the next ridge the real chamber, Accurate by the stars, begins its secret At once to those who find it.
Turn and look back.You’ll see horizons Much like the ones they saw, The tomb-builders, millennium ago; The channel scratched by rain, the same old Sediment of dusk, winter returning.
Dolerite, porphyry, gabbro fired At the earth’s young heart: how those men Handled them. Set on back-breaking Geometry, the symmetries of solstice, What they awaited we, too, still wait.
Looking for something else, I came once To a cromlech in a field of barley, Whoever framed that field had real Priorities. He sowed good grain To the tomb’s doorstep. No path
Led to the ancient death. The capstone, Set like a cauldron on three legs, Was marooned by the swimming crop. A gust and the cromlech floated, Motionless at time’s moorings.
Hissing dry sibilance, chafing Loquacious thrust of seed This way and that, in time and out Of it, would have capsized The tomb. It stayed becalmed.
The bearded foam, rummaged By wind from the westerly sea-track, Broke short not over it. Skirted By squalls of that year’s harvest, That tomb belonged in that field.
The racing barley, erratically-bleached Bronze, cross-hatched with gold And yellow, did not stop short its tide In deference. It was the barley’s World. Some monuments move.
John Ormond Thomas (1923-1990), Dunvant-born poet and film-maker.
Dull + sunless : raining in evening. Cycled with Peter1 to Dryden cottage returning via N. Sinton + Birkwood Entries 2. Peter road rode all the hills that I did + talked most of the time. Had tea at Wellwood3. Norman Grieve4 + Mr Swan5 were there + David6 came on my invitation to come up here after for a talk about cases but he had to go to Wellwood Mrs Mack7 + Erskine8 came to supper + Dav. looked again in but again couldn’t stay as he had to go to Fala’s [illegible word].
1 Peter Allan [sic], evidently a charge of Dora’s, is Peter Muir Spurgeon Allen (1914-2005), who was at Thorncroft, Selkirk, aged 7, in the 1921 Census [taken 19 June 1921], born 4 June 1914, Chorlton [Lancashire], the son of the Reverend Willoughby Charles Allen and Catherine Ellen Allen née Green; a head teacher (retired), he died 16 February 2005 at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, usual residence Hope Cottage, Stenton, Dunbar, East Lothian.
2 Dryden Cottage, approximate grid reference NGR NT475,233, North Sinton, NT485,236, and Birkwood Entries, NT493,238 (Birkwood farmstead, Canmore ID 341741 but now demolished, was at NT494,236); all locations are visible on the lower half of Ordance Survey 6 inch Roxburghshire Sheet XIII (and parts of Selkirkshire Sheets XI), published 1863.
3 Wellwood, Ettrick Terrace, Selkirk, was the home of Dr Muir’s daughter Nancy Roberts and her family.
4 Norman William Grieve (1852-1936), Hawick-born, worked in tropical agriculture and as the director of public companies (rubber and tea businesses according to Douglas Scott in ‘A Hawick Word Book’) and left £308,574.
5 Percivale ‘Percival’ Swan (1878-1964), consulting engineer and husband of Christina Verity (sometimes Verite) Swan née Grieve (1879-1967), thus Norman William Grieve’s son-in-law.
6 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., Ch.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.
7 Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946), of Elm Park, Selkirk.
8 James ‘Erskine’ Harper (1887-1953), barrister, son of Ebenezer Erskine Harper, sheriff substitute, and Agnes Harper née Watson, later Mackintosh; brother of Agnes Durnford née Harper.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
Cycled up to Inch, Broadmeadows1 + told his daughter who is a nurse2 to get him prepared for an operation. David3 came home at 12 + arranged for Walker to come out at 5 4. Leaving at 1 I motored (taking Peter5) to Ettrickbridgend, Hyndhope (Mrs Jo. Anderson6), Tushielaw (Mrs Swan rather worse7), Mt Benger Cottages + Broadmeadows (Baptie8 + Peter had their tea with them). It was an easy operation + I got back before 6. David went out of his way somehow coming home from Shandon9.
1 Inch is unidentified, though it may be possible to do so when the 1921 Census is published later this year.
2 Inch’s daughter is also unidentified.
3 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner.
4 Walker, presumably a specialist medical practitioner, is unidentified.
5 Peter Allan [sic], evidently a charge of Dora’s, is Peter Muir Spurgeon Allen (1914-2005), who was at Thorncroft, Selkirk, aged 7, in the 1921 Census [taken 19 June 1921], born 4 June 1914, Chorlton [Lancashire], the son of the Reverend Willoughby Charles Allen and Catherine Ellen Allen née Green; a head teacher (retired), he died 16 February 2005 at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, usual residence Hope Cottage, Stenton, Dunbar, East Lothian.
6 Christina Anderson née Nichol or Nicol (1877-1923), born at Milnholm, Langholm, Dumfries, daughter of Robert Nichol, shepherd, and Isabella Nichol née Armstrong and second wife of John Anderson (1861-1949), farmer and farm manager; they had married 30 November 1900 at Aberlosk, Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and in 1922 John Anderson was Inhabitant Occupier at Hyndhope, Kirkhope [Valuation Roll].
7 Dr Muir had seen Christina Verity (sometimes Verite) Swan née Grieve (1879-1967) on the 17 August; the daughter of Norman William Grieve and Charlotte Adelaide Grieve née Verity; she had married Percivale ‘Percival’ Swan (1878-1964), Chartered Consulting Engineer, at Kensington, June Quarter 1913 [sources: marriage Kensington 1a 233; death Mar 1967 Camelford 7a 28].
8 Thomas Baptie (1860-1929), driver and handyman for Dr Muir.
9 David Graham had been at Shandon the day before.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
Slates + footpaths wet but a fine dry day with a lot of sunshin: strongish N.W. wind. Motored to Yarrowfeus (Mrs Goodfellow died at 2 a.m.1), Dryhope – whence I walked to Dryhope-hope to see the wife of Thos. Graham the Shepherd2. She had cystitis. Then I went on to Henderland + saw Bette3. Came home in 55 mins. At 3 cycled to Bridgelands, Hospital + Ashybank. At 8.30 had to go to B’Meadows to see Inch4 who is threatened with appendicitis. They had ‘Phoned Graham5 at Shandon + he told them to ask me to go up + ‘Phone him which I did. Took Peter up Yarrow in the forenoon6.
1 Agnes Goodfellow, widow of John Goodfellow, feuar, died at 2 a.m., aged 76, at Plantain, Yarrowfeus, of “Senile Debility” certified by John S Muir M.B., C.M.; she was the daughter of Isaac Wyber, papermaker, and Christina Wyber née Affleck [1922 Statutory registers Deaths 779/1 4]
2 Thomas Graham, shepherd and Inhabitant Occupier of a house at Dryhope Hope, Yarrow; his wife is so far unidentified [1922 Valuation Roll, VR011700009-/390, Selkirk County, page 390 of 611]
3 Dr Muir noted that he had visited Elizabeth Mitchell at Henderland on 16 August and if this reading is correct it may be a contraction of Elizabeth; she remains unidentified, though Eliza Dalgleish Mitchell (1896-1966), daughter of James Mitchell senior and Margaret Mitchell née Mitchell was at Henderland, Megget, with her family in the 1911 Census.
4 Assume John William Gibson Inch (1866-1939), farmer, of Broadmeadows, son of Adam Inch, farmer, and Marion P Inch née Melrose, married 1865, Eddleston [760/5, Eddleston; John Inch was born 1866, Dunbar, married, 1stly, Jane White [White, Jane Brown, 1897, 738/4, Edrom, died 1906, Edrom] and, 2ndly, Catherine Grace Cairns [Cairns, Grace Kate, 1908, 768/4, Peebles], lived at Broadmeadows Farm, Selkirk around 1916-1921 (including 1921 Census), died 7 May 1939, at The Cottage, Pathhead, Crichton, Midlothian.
5 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner, described formally here so one suspects that Dr Muir wasn’t very happy with his co-partner.
6 Peter Allan [sic], evidently a charge of Dora’s, is Peter Muir Spurgeon Allen (1914-2005), who was at Thorncroft, Selkirk, aged 7, in the 1921 Census [taken 19 June 1921], born 4 June 1914, Chorlton [Lancashire], the son of the Reverend Willoughby Charles Allen and Catherine Ellen Allen née Green; a head teacher (retired), he died 16 February 2005 at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, usual residence Hope Cottage, Stenton, Dunbar, East Lothian.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/24, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1921]
Showery + strong W. wind. Milder. Had to go to Tushielaw to see Mrs Peter Swan1 Norman Grieve’s2 d. [daughter] with Shingles … took Peter3. Dav.4 called in evening. He is going to Shandon tomorrow. [extensive text deleted] Bella went to Horndean5 for a fortnight.
1 Christina Verity (sometimes Verite) Swan née Grieve (1879-1967), daughter of Norman William Grieve and Charlotte Adelaide Grieve née Verity, had married Percival – not Peter – Swan (1878-1964), Chartered Consulting Engineer, at Kensington, June Quarter 1913 [sources: marriage Kensington 1a 233; death Mar 1967 Camelford 7a 28].
2 Norman William Grieve (about 1852-1936), born Hawick, worked in tropical agriculture and as the director of public companies (rubber and tea companies according to A Hawick Word Book), he left £308,574.
3 Peter Allan [sic], evidently a charge of Dora’s, is Peter Muir Spurgeon Allen (1914-2005), who was at Thorncroft, Selkirk, aged 7, in the 1921 Census [taken 19 June 1921], born 4 June 1914, Chorlton [Lancashire], the son of the Reverend Willoughby Charles Allen and Catherine Ellen Allen née Green; a head teacher (retired), he died 16 February 2005 at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, usual residence Hope Cottage, Stenton, Dunbar, East Lothian.
4 David Charteris ‘Dav.’ Graham (1889-1963), M.B., medical practitioner and Dr Muir’s business partner
5 Isabella ‘Bella’ Paulin (1873-?1952), Dr Muir’s housekeeper, daughter of James Paulin, groom, and Grace Paulin née Cranston, born Ladykirk, Berwickshire.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/25, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1922]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 