Currie was born on 3 February 1799 in Bloomsbury, Central London, the third of eight children of the brewer and banker Mark Currie of Upper Gatton, Surrey, and Elizabeth Currie[REF] née Close.
Two younger brothers, Edward and Albert Peter, were also in the Bengal Civil Service and his elder brother Mark John Currie was a founder settler/administrator of Western Australia and Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy.