Clan Currie

NEW PIPE MARCH CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY HOMECOMING FOR THE CLAN CURRIE SOCIETY AS THEY MARCH THE ROYAL MILE TO JULY’S GATHERING EVENT!

Members of the worldwide Clan Currie Society taking part in the Homecoming Scotland Gathering event in Edinburgh this summer (25/26 July) will celebrate the Homecoming and the 50th anniversary of their Society in a most unique way – with a new pipe tune specifically commissioned for the occasion! The march, which commemorates the Highland Review of 1822 for which the tartan was designed and first worn, was composed for the Society by award-winning piper Stuart Samson MBE.

Robert Currie, president of the Society, said: “We are honoured to have been able to commission one of the top pipers in the world, Stuart Samson MBE, to compose “The Currie Tartan” for the 50th anniversary of the Clan Currie Society – and I’m delighted that it will also mark our visit to The Gathering in this Year of Homecoming. Stuart is very well-known and well respected in the piping world, having achieved some of the highest accolades in the piping world.”

“I would like to extend a very warm invitation to all Curries, wherever they may be, to visit with us at our Clan tent at The Gathering in Edinburgh on 25 and 26 July. Whatever the spelling of your name - Currie, Curry, McCurry, McMhuirich, MacMureach, MacVurich or any other derivative spelling - if you are part of our clan network, we’d love to hear from you. And if you are not able to come to Edinburgh, please get in touch through our website on www.clancurrie.com to find out more and register for updates on all of our activities.”

David Caldwell, Keeper of Scotland and Europe for the National Museums Scotland, said: “The MacMhuirichs are famous in Scotland as poets and Clan Currie has an important role to play in remembering that tradition and fostering and promoting Scottish heritage.”

Robert Currie is keen to build on the bardic ancestry of the Currie’s and has already supported two cultural programmes in Scotland at the Smith Museum and Art Gallery, Stirling, and Dunkeld Cathedral (a building originally restored by the famous Scottish shipping magnate, Sir Donald Currie). In the United States, the clan society is involved with a wide cultural programme including events, films and exhibitions.

Robert said: “As well as supporting existing partnerships with Scottish cultural organisations, we are keen to develop future partnership opportunities of this nature. I see the Society’s involvement in contemporary cultural activities on both sides of the Atlantic as being an important part of our programme of activities. By providing support for exploration and experience of our culture, we are playing our part in promoting Scotland’s heritage for future generations.”

Dr Donnie Munro, Director of Development at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, said: “We at Sabhal Mor Ostaig are delighted to be able to work with the Clan Currie Society and appreciate the innovative manner in which they seek to meaningfully engage with the contemporary needs of the language, music and cultural heritage of modern Scotland.”

The Clan Currie Society’s scholarship program supports deserving young students wishing to further their studies in music, poetry, and dance. In Scotland, the Society’s Pipe Major Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Scholarship is administered annually by the National Piping Centre in Glasgow. The Society is now venturing into the field of documentary filmmaking and exhibition production with a concentration on Scottish history and the arts.

Robert Currie’s own ancestry can be traced back to Arran where his great great grandfather lived before emigrating to Canada in 1828. His ancestors later moved to the United States of America where Bob now lives. During his first Homecoming visit to Scotland in December 1991, Robert Currie met the late Col. William McMurdo Currie, founder of the Clan Currie Society and widely recognized as the worldwide head of the family and name of Currie. Before his death in 1992, Col. Currie charged Robert with reigniting worldwide interest in the MacMhuirich bardic dynasty. Under Robert Currie’s leadership, the Society has grown from strength to strength and is today becoming an important Scottish arts and heritage organization.


The Clan Currie Society is an international, non-profit cultural and educational organization, engaged in preserving and promoting Highland Heritage at Scottish Games, ethnic festivals, as well as community groups and classrooms.

The Society was originally formed by Col. William McMurdo Currie in Glasgow in 1959 to further the knowledge and appreciation of the MacMhuirich bardic dynasty.

The Society has over 3,000 members worldwide. Membership of the Society is available by registering on their website at www.clancurrie.com. Society members have full access to the website and receive priority notification for all events.

The Arms of the Society were granted by the Court of the Lord Lyon, Edinburgh, Scotland on June 30, 2006. The design represents the international community the Society has created in “promoting Scottish heritage in general and Clan Currie heritage in particular, involving domestic and international matters.”

The Clan Currie Society is a respected producer of outstanding programs and events to honouring Scotland’s rich culture and ancestry.

The Currie tartan came into existence during the time of George IV's State visit to Edinburgh. In 1822, Lord Alexander MacDonald, 10th Baronet of Nova Scotia, Chief of the MacDonalds of the Isles, granted to James Currie of Balilone and Garrachoran, the right to use the Lord of the Isles tartan as the basis for his own family tartan. The tartan remained in a restricted state, solely for the use of the Balilone and Garrachoran line of Curries until 1991. This explains the virtual absence of the tartan from many of the standard tartan publications, which have never maintained complete catalogues of the vast array of registered tartans. The tartan was adopted as the official tartan for the entire clan in 1992.