Allan Peter Currie was born in Glasgow, the son of an earthenware manufacturer. He was educated at Janfefield School, Bearsden, and the Glasgow Academy where he made the school rugby first eleven.

In 1912, Allan joined the British Army, serving with the Glasgow Highlanders. He rose through the ranks before being appointed Major with the 18th Highland Light Infantry.

Allan saw service on the Western Front during the First World War. He was twice injured, once in 1915 and again in 1918.

For bravery at Ypres in 1918, Allan was awarded the Military Cross. While under heavy machine-gun fire, Allan went forward to rescue a comrade who was lying injured just 50 yards from the enemy lines. 

Allan survived the war. Following his military service, he joined Coats of Paisley, who at that time were a global leader in industrial thread manufacturing. Allan’s job took him to the Baltic States and Scandinavia. He took up cartography and had a deep knowledge of the Finnish landscape.
Allan lived and worked in Norway during the inter-war years where he took up skiing. 

He was a member of the five-man Great Britain cross-country skiing squad at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Olympics. Unlike team-mates Ernest Appleyard, Guy Clarkson, Chris Mackintosh, and Alex Keiller, however, Allen never started in either of the events he was entered for.

He later lived in Swede with his wife. Allen’s son Gilbert was born in 1935, named for Allen’s brother Gilbert who had been killed in action in 1916.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Allen was recalled from the Army Reserve List. He fought in the 1940 Norwegian Campaign but was later attached to Military Affairs at the Ministry of Information in London.

Allen was killed in London on 27 June 1944 as a result of enemy action. He is buried in Forres (Cluny Hill) Cemetery in Scotland.