Earlston Ambulance Association: 1942-1979.

Did you know that Earlston once had its own ambulance, serving the village and the district?  Auld Earlston is  grateful to  Dr. John Burns  for the gift of the Earlston and District Ambulance Association Minute Books, which form the basis of this article. 

 

  A war-time ambulance on display at Bletchley Park Museum

THE BEGINNING - 79 years ago, on the 31st July 1942, a public meeting was held under the chairmanship of Major Sharpe to consider the formation of an Ambulance Association "in the hope it would be the means of saving much suffering." A committee was formed   with local physician Dr. Lachlan Campbell appointed chairman, Rev. Peter Wylie as secretary and Mr. Robert Dodds, bank manager, as treasurer.

 Berwickshire News:  11th Septembers 1942

A GENEROUS DONATION  – A Ford V8 Ambulance was generously given to Earlston by Captain David Colville of Chapel on Leader “for cases of accident and non-infectious diseases”. It was stipulated that the ambulance was not there to bring a patient home.  Nor was it to be used as a hearse. Captain Colville was appointed as Honorary President of the Association.  

 

WHOM DID THE AMBULANCE SERVE?   Earlston itself and the surrounding communities - Lauder, Legerwood, Channelkirk, Westruther, , Drygrange, Langshaw, Blainslie  and Gordon, all of whom were represented on the committee. 

 

 

HOW WAS THE PROJECT FINANCED?  Money was raised through subscriptions, house to house collections and donations.

The subscription was set at 4 shillings per family per year, with 1300 joining the scheme.   It was agreed that members of the Association would have use of the ambulance at the rate of £1 for a journey to Edinburgh and 6p per mile for other journeys, with a minimum charge of 5 shillings.  Non-members were charged £3 for a journey to Edinburgh hospitals and 1 shilling for all other journeys, with a minimum fee of 7 shillings.

 

Local communities rallied round to support this initiative, through fund-raising events, with newspaper reports recording donations from house to house collections, and groups such as the Earlston WRI, Earlston Women’s Voluntary Service, Gordon WRI and Simpson & Fairbairn mill workers showing support, with the Ambulance Association Committee “hoping that the general public will not hesitate to give their liberal support to such a meritorious object”.

 

One such event was reported in “The Berwickshire News” of 5^th February 1944:

 

“Under the auspices of Earlston W.R.I. a whist drive and dance was held in Ercildoune Church Hall, proceeds being in aid of Earlston and District Ambulance Association. There were 156 people who occupied 39 card tables. Mr Hector Brodie extended a hearty welcome the large company, and during the tea interval Mr J. McGregor, Ardmohr, gave a short address on the work of the Association during the past six months. He expressed the committee’s thanks to the Women’s Rural Institute for the donations received during that period.”

 

Donations were also given in kind and included:  1bed pan,  urinal,  1 pair dark blankets,  1 pair yellow blankets, pair blue blankets,  pillowslips; 2 towels, hot water bottles,  rubber pillowslip,  l mackintosh and  l leg cage.

THE DRIVERS

The first driver Mr J. Hope was paid 2/6 per hour and retired in 1946, Appreciation was expressed for his devotion, courtesy, cheerful competency and most dependable willing service, with his wife thanked for her constant help. She regularly washed the blankets and on several occasions travelled as an ambulance attendant, when no one else was

available.

 

Mr Hope’s successor was Mr. Robert Frater who was paid a weekly wage of £4, rising to £5.10 for a 48 hour working week. 8am-5pm daily and 9am-12noon Saturday, with overtime at 2/6 per hour. 

 

Bert Frater (a cousin of Sheila McKay's father)  was well known locally.  During the war he was in the Royal Army Service Corps, driving a field ambulance.  In July 1940 he was reported missing and later identified as a prisoner of war, incarcerated in a German camp for four years. 

 

 

Jock Thomson later took on the role as driver. 

EVENTS OVER TIME – as recorded in the Minute Books and in the local press 

 

1942-43 –Committee discussions focused on matters of procedures, subscriptions, driver responsibilities and payment.  It was decided   that only doctors and police had the power to call out the ambulance, in cases of non-infectious sickness or accidents.  The service was only available on Sundays in matters of urgency.  Mr J. McGregor took over the role of Secretary. The ambulance was not to be used as a hearse.

 

1944 AGM - The ambulance had covered 12,835 miles, made 180 journeys and transported 235 patients.  Repairs had been necessary to the vehicle and ambulance societies in Duns, Kelso and St. Boswells were thanked for their help which was much appreciated.  The lack of heating in the ambulance was raised and opinions would be sought on providing this.

  

1945 AGM   - The ambulance had again been a great boon to the community. Membership had increased and now totalled 1245. 135 journeys had been made, carrying 156 patients and covering 9500 miles.  A heater had been installed which greatly improved the comfort for patients.

 

1947 AGM - The key discussion has focussed on the forthcoming introduction of the National Health Service and the future role of Ambulance Associations.

 

Because of the healthy estate of the finances, it was decided not to collect membership subscriptions for the year 1947-1948, except from residents who desired to join the Association.  Tribute was paid to the good work, willingness and efficiency of the ladies and gentlemen who undertook the house to house collections.  Messrs John Readman & Son were thanked for kindly providing garaging for the ambulance. The installation of a telephone in the driver’s home had proved a real assistance to the work of the Association. Reference was made to the theft of two blankets and two pillows from the ambulance when parked at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. 

 

 

1948 AGM - the decision was taken to become affiliated to St. Andrew’s & Red Cross Scottish Ambulance Service and the consequent financial arrangements of the move.

 

1949 AGM   - 20,382 mileage covered,   358 journeys made and 705 patients carried.  Unease was expressed at the high figure for mileage, and the fact the 10 year old ambulance coming to the end of its life.  There was concern too at the waiting times at hospitals.   

Minute’s recorded small improvement’s such as a uniform for the driver.  Including rubber boots, and membership of the Automobile Association (AA) in the event of breakdowns. 

1950 – A meeting was held to discuss the purchase of a new ambulance, with a decision taken to purchase a Daimler model costing £2135 in colours of French grey and gold which was much admired on its journeys to and from Edinburgh.   

1951 AGM – the sudden death of Chairman Dr. Lachlan Campbell (below) was greatly mourned in the village and tribute was paid to his leadership of the Ambulance Association, since its inception, with a minute’s silence held in respect of his memory.  Dr. Smith was appointed as new chairman.

 

1952 - Marked the last Public Meeting held by the Association until 1979.   

1960’s  – The Committee continued to meet, but with  increasing control from the St. Andrew’s Association in Glasgow, there was less and less for the local Association to do. The last meeting of the decade, recorded in the Minute Book, was in 1965.   

1979 – On 28^th February a Committee meeting was held, presided over by Dr. Smith and Dr.Burns. As the ambulance  in Earlston District was now fully equipped and maintained by headquarters at Glasgow, it was recommended that funds should be used  to equip local doctors with radio telephones, ”thus speeding up the receiving of urgent messages while the doctors were on their rounds”.  

 On 25^th October 1979 a public meeting was held (the first since 1952) for the purpose of disposing of the assets of the Association, amounting to £1628, with a unanimous decision to purchase the radio telephones for local doctors as recommended by the committee.

Thus the Ambulance Association which had served Earlston and District communities for 36 years came an end, with the funds finally closed. 

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 Money Values:

• The original annual subscription for a family of 4 shillings is equivalent to £7.90 today.
• The charge for non-members to be transported to Edinburgh was originally £3 equivalent today to £118 !!
  
• The driver’s weekly wage in 1946 was £4 – equivalent today to £142.
•  The closing fund of £1628 in 1979 is equivalent to £6356 today.

Sources

• Earlston & District Ambulance Association Minutes Books 1942-44, and 1945-1979.
• BritishNewspaper Archive for press reports in “The Southern Reporter” and “The Berwickshire News”. 
• Notes (undated c.1980s) prepared by the Association for an item on BBC Radio Tweed on emergency services.   
• National Archives Currency Converter

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Contributed by Susan Donaldson of the Auld Earlston Group,

with thanks to Dr. John Burns

 

 

 

The Scotts of Cairneymount - Four Generations of Shepherds.

The striking family photograph (below)  of the Scott Family of Cairneymount, near  Earlston was gifted to Auld Earlston by Margaret, a Scott descendant.  

Margaret’s grandfather Adam Scott was the man on the back row, far right and although Margaret knew the names of his brothers and sisters, she did not know  the older seated couple.

 A combination of searches on Ancestry and ScotlandsPeople easily identified the family in the 1901 census.   For living at Cairneymount, were John Scott, a shepherd, aged 51 and his wife Jane aged 48, surrounded by their seven children:  Mary aged 21, Adam, 19, William 16, Charles 14, Margaret 13, John 12 and Thomas 7. 

The photograph was taken probably 2-3 years later, with the individuals Identified as: 

• Back Row:  William  Charles,  Margaret,  Mary, Adam  
• Middle  Row - Father John and mother Jane, with youngest son  Thomas  between them.
• Seated on the cushion, young John

Research revealed  that the family followed the Scottish traditional naming pattern for their children,  who were named after grandparents, great grandparents,  and uncles & aunts.

WHO WAS JOHN SCOTT, (SENIOR)?

The 1901 census indicated that John was born  around 1850 in Cranshaws, Berwickshire,

The 1851 census  showed one year old John with his parents Adam, (a shepherd)  and Margaret Scott  and two older sisters Agnes and Margaret, living at  Rawburn Farm, Cranshaws, a hamlet  (population 127)  in the Lammermuir Hills,  nine miles from Duns, Berwickshire.

By 1861, the Scott family was still at Rawburn Farm,  with a growing family of three more children  - eldest daughter Agnes was a domestic servant, unmarried;  16 year old Margaret was an agricultural labourer (Ag. Lab.), and John 11 years old with three more siblings - Charles 8, Mary 6 and Isabella 3. 

THE  MOVE TO CAIRNEYMOUNT

Sometime between 1861 and 1871, the Scott Family moved  from Rawburn Farm, Cranshaws to Cairneymount, above Earlston,  - a journey  of over 27 miles, presumably made by horse and cart.   (The railway between Duns and Earlston had been completed in 1863)

 In the 1871 census, John had followed his father into being a shepherd.  The household of seven comprised his parents, sister Agnes, a dressmaker, brother Charles an Agricultural Labourer (Ag. Lab.) , with 15 year old Mary a domestic servant.  Completing the household was a 5 year old granddaughter Helen Scott.

On the 25^th April 1879,  29 year old John married at Craigsford Mains,   27 year old Jane Scott, daughter of William, a farm steward (deceased) and Mary Fleming, “after banns according to the forms of the United Presbyterian Church”.  Jane was described as a housekeeper, daughter of William Scott, a farm steward and Mary Fleming.  The Scott surname is so popular in the Scottish Borders that it is impossible to state if the couple were already related.  Again the marriage certificate on the ScotlandsPeople website confirmed the name of both sets of parents.

 A year later saw John at the helm of Cairneymount following the death of his father Adam in 1880.

The 1891 census listed a household of ten living at Cairneymount:  John aged 41, with his wife Jane 39, and their  six children under nine years old – Mary,  Adam. William, Charles. Margaret and young John  - soon to be joined by another son Thomas  - plus lodger William Craig, assistant shepherd.

The household in the 1911 census was a depleted one  with John and Jane living with unmarried daughter Mary aged 31, sons young John , a shepherd, and Thomas a bank clerk – plus one year old grandson another John F. Scott .  The  entry noted that John and Jane had been married 31 years and had seven living children;  and that Cairneymount had four rooms with one or more windows.

But who was the grandson, baby John?    A search on scotlandspeople came up with  the answer – he was the illegitimate son named John Fleming Scott of eldest daughter Mary  (right)  – Fleming being his grandmother Jane’s maiden name.   

John Scott, (senior)  died  in 1923, aged 72,  at Redpath with his eldest son Adam Scott of Courthill, Kelso named as the informant on his death certificate. No further details are given on the address in the village of Redpath – perhaps John was visiting a relative there  at the time?]

 

                                         

 John’s wife,  Jane,  died nine  years later aged 81,  with the announcement in “The Southern Reporter”:  25^th August 1932:

“At Rhymer’s Tower Cottage, Earlston on 19^th August 1932.  Jane Scott, widow of John Scott, late Shepherd of Cairneymount.

 

An early 20^th century photograph of Rhymer’s Tower Cottages.

 

John and Jane  were both  buried in Earlston Churchyard, with the monumental inscription:  

“In loving memory of John Scott , late Shepherd of Cairneymount who died at Redpath 25^th of ~April 1923 in his 73^rd year.  Also Jane Scott, his wife who died at Rhymer’s Tower Cottage, Earlston  19^th August 1932 aged 81 years.”

 

 

 Valuation Rolls indicated Cairneymount continued to be the home of the Scott family after John’s death,  with John’s namesake son listed  as occupier/tenant until 1926.  Young John was the fourth generation of the Scott family to become a shepherd  after his great grandfather Charles, grandfather Adam and father John. 

Today’s Scott family recollects that  father John’s other sons, William, Charles and Adam  lived at farms around Earlston - Yarlside, Grizzlefield, Rachelfield and Lauder Barns. 

A general search on the   online newspaper archives discovered  this item relating to youngest son Thomas, the little lad sitting between his grandparents in the group photograph.   “The Southern Reporter":  27^th July 1916, reported on Thomas, fighting in France,   being wounded by shrapnel and bullet, but recovering in hospital back in England.

THE FIRST SCOTT TO LIVE AT CAIRNEYMOUNT  - ADAM SCOTT (1808-1880)

The father of John (1850-1923) was Adam Scott,  with census returns consistently naming his birthplace as Southdean, Roxburghshire.  An entry was found in the Old Parish Records for Adam, born December 1808,  at Southdean  Roxburghshire, son of Charles Scott and Mary Buckham  whose Christian names continued down two generations of the Scott family. 

By 1839, Adam was in Cranshaws, Berwickshire where the banns were read for his marriage to Margaret Moffat.   The brief entry in the Old Parish Records on scotlandspeople gave no mention of parents’ names.

By the  1861 census, the couple were living at Rawburn Farm, Cranshaws  with their growing family of five children – Agnes, John, Charles, Mary and Isabella. 

Yet ten years later saw that 50 year old Adam and family had made the move to Cairneymount, near Earlston, What could have prompted this move of 27 miles west?  Was it the prospect of a substantial house?   Had he attended Hiring Fairs  held regularly in Duns and Earlston?  These were   important events in the farming community,  where men and women  farm  workers  would gather to bargain with prospective farmers for work, and hopefully secure a new position.  The move must have been no light task by horse and cart  with a large family, and furnishings etc. 

The move can be pinpointed to the end of the decade, for valuation rolls showed that that a James Wilson was listed as occupier/tenant of Cairneymount in 1868. 

The 1871 census listed at Cairneymount , 60 year old Adam, born at Southdean, Roxburghshire, his wife Margaret aged 55, born at Spott, East Lothian , four children, including son John, and a granddaughter, 5 year old Helen Scott.

Nine years later Adam died, with his eldest son John taking over the tenancy. 

 Adam’s death was registered at Melrose in 1880 and  confirmed the names of Adam’s parents – Charles Scott, also a shepherd,  and Mary Buckham.

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Cairneymount today - photograph courtesy of the current owners.

The house was at one stage home to two families 

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SOURCES

• Old Parish Records, Census Returns, Statutory Records and Valuation Rolls on ScotlandsPeople,  and Ancestry.

• Newspaper items on British Newspaper Archive
   
• Earlston Monumental Inscriptions, published by Borders Family History Society

• Vintage village photographs from the Auld Earlston Collection. 

Contributed by Susan Donaldson, Auld Earlston Group

with thanks to Margaret, a Scott descendant.  

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Memories of Dr. Robert Riddell, (1791-1871) - An Earlston Worthy

Last year we published on the blog an account of a tragic accident at Earlston Railway Station in 1866, when John Thomson, a coal agent aged 36 was crushed between the buffers and a coal truck. His arm had to be amputated and he died as a result of his injuries. At the scene he was attended to initially by local physician Dr.Robert Riddell.

 

Blog reader Dr. John Burns recently gave   additional background information on Dr. Riddell to add to the account of the accident, together with rather a gory medical incident. Two obituaries were also traced in the British Newspaper Archive, giving us a vivid  picture of Dr. Riddell's life and character - a man who at an early stage aspired to be an army surgeon, but who came to earn great respect as Earlston's physician.

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Census returns of the period showed that Dr. Riddell lived on Earlston High Street, with his near neighbours the Whale sisters, renowned manufacturers of Earlston gingham, and Daniel Aitkenhead, parochial schoolmaster.

We have a fine description of the doctor in the writings of Earlston people and places by Rev. William Crockett.

"Here was a man skilled in diagnosis, a very capable servant, responsive to every phase of human distress. Even if (because of his slightly humped back), they spoke of him as” Humpy" Riddell, it was never with any feeling of disrespect. The doctor was endowed with a big brain; poor people said he had a heart of gold. He showed his queer habits on occasions - a street fight fascinated him for instance. Dr. Riddell believed in prayer and once told the minister "I always pray before I start an operation."

A further description was given in Rev. William Mair's biography "My Life" when he wrote:

"It had taken but a short time in Earlston to know that there was one who seemed to have become a part of it, and whom it had taken to its heart - old Dr. Riddell.

Dr. Riddell was a man skilled in diagnosis, a very capable surgeon, responsive to every face of human distress. He was endowed with a big brain, and poor folk said he had a heart of gold…..

For fifty years he had practised there, and when I first met him in 1870 he still attended friends of old standing by special request. In his day he had been called in by "gentle and simple " all around.

He was a man who is not commonly supposed to have existed in the medical profession in rural parts. It is not a small thing to say that he was well versed in the literature of his profession, had a knowledge of the newest things in medicine, and delighted in speaking of them.

He knew his Horace and Caesar well, and although there was nothing martial in his bearing, and he lived peacefully, the operations of war had a wonderful fascination for him - war of every degree from a street brawl to the clash of nations. He had read Napier's "History of the Peninsular War" again and again, and could discourse for hours on the details of the Waterloo campaign."

In his biography, the Rev. Mair included a rather gory story told to him by Dr.  Riddell :

 "He was taking off a man's hand by the light of a candle when the man who held the candle fell in a faint and all was darkness. The arteries were not tied, and the spurting blood, unknown to him, touched his spectacles, so that when light was got again he could neither see properly nor, for a while, tell the reason why. The poor sufferer, however, survived it all, and was a neighbour of mine when I moved to Earlston."

 

“The Southern Reporter" : 19th January 1871 wrote a glowing tribute to Dr. Riddell.

"The Late Dr. Riddell - We have this week to notice the death of Robert Riddell, Esq., surgeon, in the 80th year of his age, and who for the long period of fifty-five years had been a successful practitioner in Earlston and district. The memory of Dr. Riddell will long be fondly cherished by those among whom he practised, as he was a gentleman whose honest and genial nature, with the quaint traits of character for which he was so well known, secured for him a ready welcome alike in the mansions of the wealthy and the cottages of the peasantry.

Dr. Riddell was born at Stow in the year 1791, and no doubt received his early education at the parish school there. He afterwards studied at the Edinburgh University; and received his diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons in the year 1814, about the time of Napoleon’s escape from Elba. He at once offered to join the army in Flanders as a medical volunteer, but before he received his papers peace was proclaimed.

He then turned his attention to the country, and commenced practice in Greenlaw where, he remained nearly two years. His success there not being equal to his expectations, he removed to Earlston in the autumn of the year 1816.

Here his practice at first was small, but an indomitable perseverance, which was one of his leading characteristics, enabled him to surmount all difficulties; and in the year 1823 he was so well established that it was only at the urgent solicitations of the proprietors of Cowdenknowes and Carolside, that he entered into partnership with the then long-established medical man of the district Dr. Hume.

The co-partnery was not of long duration, but by the time of its dissolution, Dr. Riddell’s abilities were so well known that he soon became the medical attendant of all the resident noblemen and landed proprietors for many miles around Earlston; and many a friendship between him and them was formed which ended only in death.

He was also for many years medical attendant on the poor of the parish, an office he was lately compelled to resign through failing health.

The Doctor was at all times an earnest thinker, and keen observer; and even up to near the close of his long life he kept himself well-informed on the many changed and improvements taking place in his profession. Nor was general literature neglected; he was a good classical and French scholar, and had a remarkable acquaintance with the military history of Great Britain.

Dr. Riddell’s memory will be fondly cherished by a wide circle of friends in the town and district”. 

 

A lengthy and wordy obituary in "The Berwickshire News" of 18th January 1871 paid another fulsome tribute, with extracts below:

“The late Dr. Riddell.—The death of a man who for so long a time featured so largely in the public eye, the late Dr.  Riddell, is deserving of a more extended notice than that of a mere insertion in an ordinary newspaper obituary.

In the year 1813, he obtained his diploma as a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Soon thereafter he settled in Greenlaw medical practice — the peace of 1815 disappointing the hopes he had of seeing active military service as an army surgeon……..

When in the prime of life, when fullness of knowledge and considerable experience had matured his judgment, Dr. Riddell's eminence as a surgeon was such that his advice was eagerly sought by his professional brethren in cases of difficulty and the utmost reliance placed in his medical skill by all ranks of the community from the

His knowledge of Latin was accurate, and extensive… The Doctor's fondness for things military did not show itself in only his reading - when a young man he rode as trooper in yeomanry cavalry corps connected with the Borders. During the course of his practice he met with many old soldiers of all grades whose stories of the [Napoleonic] War his unfailing memory could reproduce with the utmost exactness.

As indication of the esteem in which Dr. Riddell was held, was some ten or eleven years ago, he was invited to a public dinner and presented with a gold watch and a purse of sovereigns. Having been such, we have above made a hasty and imperfect attempt to describe, will be seen that Dr. Riddell was a man who by natural gifts, assiduously cultivated and improved, was enabled in his day and generation to perform great and valuable services……

For the last year or two he felt the infirmities of age, but it was only in October last that resigned the office of medical attendant to the people of the parish. He died peacefully on the evening of Friday in the presence of those dearest to him, to whom as well as to others the cautious and sagacious old man is now no more than recollection.”

Dr. Riddell was buried in Earlston Churchyard with the family gravestone reading:

"Dr. Robert Riddell, surgeon, Earlston, born 11.12.1791, died 25.1.1871; also his wife Agnes, born 12.9.1797, died 9.4.1879; and their son, John Dalziel Riddell died 7.3.1904 ; Robert Riddell, surgeon died 7.5.1901 aged 84 years; Marion Riddell, his wife,died 8.5.1888 aged 51 years."

[Source: Berwickshire Monumental Inscriptions - Earlston, published by Borders Family History Society, 2005].

 

 

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NOTES:

• Regarding the Earlston train accident in 1866,  this was a time of early days in the use of anesthesia, with infection control weak, and the incidence of mortality following amputation high. It was only in 1867 that Joseph Lister published his work in using carbolic acid as an antiseptic.
   
• The Rev. William Shillinglaw Crockett (1866-1945) was born in Earlston and was buried in Earlston churchyard, though most of his ministry was spent at Tweedsmuir. He was a prolific writer of many publications on Borders life and literature, including a series of articles on Earlston people and places.
   
• The Very Rev. William Mair DD (1830–1920) spent most of his ministrant  at Earlston. and served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1897/98

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Contributed by Susan Donaldson, Auld Earlston Group
with thanks to Dr. John Burns.