CURRIE, Haileybury College, 1873-1921
December, 2007
Janella Horne (janella @t thehedges.wanadoo.co.uk) of Balscote, Oxon, writes: I am trying to find out about William MacGregor b.June 6th 1873, son of the late Major-General Augustus Arthur Currie. He attended Haileybury College. Source: Haileybury Register, 1862-1910 by Haileybury College - 1910 - Page 351.
As I am sure you realised when you looked up William Macgregor Currie's entry in the 1910 edition of Haileybury College register, few of the boys who went to Haileybury had any connection with Hertfordshire, apart from being at the school. Only one of the 47 pupils joining in the same term as he did is listed as coming from Hertfordshire (Samuel Lucas, eldest son of Samuel Lucus of Tile House, Hitchin) and only one is listed as living in the county in 1910 (Julian Frederick Wetherall was at The Palace, Much Hadham). The limited links with Hertfordshire and the non-specific nature of your request for information means that normally your question would lie outside the scope of this web site (see Ask Chris FAQ). However it does allow me to demonstrate the value of the college registers in charting someone's career. Much of the information below will already be known to you, although you may not have seen the 8th edition register. The only other source of information I have consulted is the 1881 census (in italics).
| 1873 | William Macgregor Currie was born in the East Indies, as were his elder brother, and two sisters. |
| 1877-1880 | William's elder brother, Arthur Cecil Currie, son of Col (later Major-General) A. A. Currie, C.B. of Bengal S. C., was a pupil at Haileybury. |
| 1881 | The family had obviously returned to England as William was living at Pevensey Road, St Leonards, Hastings with his father (Retired Major General), his mother, and two sisters. |
| 1881 | William's younger brother, Thomas Charles Currie, is born. |
| [His father died] | |
| 1886-1890 | William attended Haileybury, son of the late Major-Gen. A. A. Curie, C.B., Pevensey Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. |
| William studies at School of Mines, Kensington and Freiberg, A.R.S.M., Mining Eng. | |
| 1894-1900 | William's younger brother, Thomas Charles Currie, attended Haileybury, from Pevensey Road, St Leonards. |
| 1896-1900 | In Chile, Peru and Bolivia |
| 1900-1904 | In Australia and Tasmania |
| 1902 | Married Anna Ethel, d. of W. G. Palmer, Esq., M.L.A., in Victoria, Australia |
| 1904 --- | In Federated Malay States |
| 1910 | Postal Address: W. M. Currie, Esq., Batu Gajah, Federated Malay States |
| [1914-1918 war] | Major, Northumberland Fusiliers and Trench Mortars |
| 1921 | Died at Lyme Regis, 8 June 1921 |
To find out more about him I suggest you consider the following sources:
The above information comes from the 4th (1910) and 8th (1961) editions of the Register - and the 8th has very truncated older entries. The 1900 edition may give an overseas address. You may find more about him, and his military activities in the 1922 or 1931 editions. (The British Library has copies - and possibly so does the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The Society of Genealogists is another possible source as it has one of the best open shelf collections of old school registers.)
There should be information about his military career in the National Archives, and you may be able to get dates for his time in the Army from the Army List (Society of Genealogists has a good open shelf collection).
He might have died from war injuries - and his death certificate may throw some light on this.
It might be worth seeing if he left a will, and if so what it said. It may detail family and include some new addresses, etc.
There is a web page for Haileybury College
If you can add to the information given above tell me.
Page created December 2007