James Currie FRSE MA LLD JP (13 April 1863 – 3 November 1930) was a Scottish businessman who was the owner and senior partner of the international shipping company, the Currie Line. He was also a keen amateur botanist, mineralogist and archaeologist, making sufficient impact on the Scottish world of science as to rise to be President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Life

Currie was born at Catherine Bank House on Newhaven Road (demolished c.1900) in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, Scotland on 13 April 1863. He was the son of Jessie Campbell Maxwell and James Currie (1823-1900), shipowner and shipbuilder, brother of the Glasgow shipbuilder,

Donald Currie Sir Donald Currie (17 September 182513 April 1909) was a Scottish shipowner, politician and philanthropist. Early life and career He was born at Greenock, Renfrewshire, on 17 September 1825, the third son of ten children of James Currie (1797 ...

. His father had come to Leith to run the Leith Hull and Hamburg Steam Packet Company but had branched out to create his own shipping companies. The company offices, both for James Currie and Co and the Currie Line, were at 34 Bernard Street in the heart of

. He was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, is now part of the Senior School. The Junior School is located on Arboretum Ro ...

1876-79 and then attended both the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, graduating with an MA. A keen scientist, his interests were easily funded by his family's wealth. His business interests were second to his scientific pursuits until 1900 when his father died and he had to take his place as owner and director of both James Currie & Co (the shipbuilding branch) and the Currie Line (the shipping company), by this time owning ships and property both in

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He also inherited around £100,000 at this point. In 1897 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposers being Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, Matthew Forster Heddle,

D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson CB FRS FRSE (2 May 1860 – 21 June 1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician and classics scholar. He was a pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology, travelled on expeditions to the Bering Strait ...

, and John Young Buchanan. He served as Treasurer to the Society from 1906–26 and President 1926-29. The

awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD) in 1919. He was also President of the Edinburgh Geological Society 1904-6. On 3 November 1930 he died at Trinity Cottage, a large villa at the junction of Ferry Road and South Trinity Road in north Edinburgh. The villa was demolished in the 1960s to build the Scottish Tax Offices (also in turn demolished). On his death the company passed to his youngest and only surviving brother, Alastair Currie (1867-1942). He is buried with his wife in

Warriston Cemetery Warriston Cemetery is a cemetery in Edinburgh. It lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly-formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around of land on a slightly sloping si ...

near the centre of the main roundel (south of the vaults).

Family

He was married to Gertrude Barclay Peterkin MBE (1859-1939) around 1890. They had three daughters, Margaret, Elizabeth and Isobel, and one son James .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Currie, James 1863 births 1930 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Cambridge Businesspeople from Edinburgh Scottish shipbuilders Ship owners Scottish scientists People from Leith 20th-century Scottish botanists 19th-century Scottish botanists Scottish mineralogists Scottish archaeologists 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 20th-century Scottish businesspeople