General Sir Arthur William Currie will go down in history as one of the Great War’s most capable leaders.
He had the unique distinction of starting his military career on the very bottom rung as a pre-war militia gunner before rising through the ranks to become the first Canadian commander of the Canadian Corps.
Arthur Currie was born on 5th December 1875 to William Garner Curry and Jane Patterson on their farm near the hamlet of Napperton, Ontario, Canada. He was the third of eight children and they grew up on the homestead of his paternal grandparents, John Corrigan and Jane Garner. Currie's grandparents had emigrated from Ireland in 1838 to escape religious strife, and upon their arrival in Canada they had converted from Catholicism and Anglicanism to Methodism, changing the family name from Corrigan to Curry. Arthur Currie modified the spelling of his surname from Curry to Currie in 1897.
Arthur would go on to train and qualify as a teacher.
On 6th May 1897, Currie joined the Canadian Militia as a part-time gunner for the 5th (British Columbia) Field Artillery Regiment. He achieved the rank of Corporal in 1900 and was soon after offered an officer's commission. A commission however, was a expensive prospect as officers were expected to provide their own uniforms and to donate their pay to the officer's mess. This was a fact that would plague Arthur for many years to come, resulting a big financial scandal that would follow him to the trenches. Currie was discouraged by his financial prospects as a teacher; and thus left teaching to take up work in insurance.
Currie took on his role as militia officer seriously, studying textbooks, getting to the firing range and attending any workshop offered.
By September 1909, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding the 5th Regiment. In August 1913, Currie's five-year term as commander of the 5th Regiment came to a close and he faced a forced retirement from the Canadian Militia at the age of 38. Just in time, he was approached to take command of a new militia regiment, the 50th Regiment Gordon Highlanders of Canada.
At the outbreak of war, Arthur was promoted to Brigadier-General and he took command of the 2nd Brigade, sailing to the UK with them in October 1914. After training in the UK, they arrived in Ypres in April 1915 in time to take part in the Second Battle of Ypres where the Germans used gas on masse for the first time on the Western Front. Currie stayed cool under pressure and organised 2nd Brigade’s vital defence of Ypres.
The following year, the Canadians moved over to the Somme sector shortly after the opening of the batte. Arthur proved himself to be the master of the set-piece assault, designed to take limited objectives and then hold on in the face of inevitable German counterattacks.
By late 1916, the four Canadian divisions were in France, gathered together as the Canadian Corps under the command of Sir Julian Byng. This Corps was to play a big role in the next planned offensive at Arras, and Currie was tasked with analysing the Somme battles in order to plan for Arras. He attended lectures, spoke with senior and junior officers, questioned them for their experiences and ideas, and in turn gave a series of lectures on his findings.
In response to the Verdun visit, organisational changes were made to the platoon structure within the infantry battalions that would later become corps-wide changes. In his report, Currie evaluated not only the French tactics but also what the Canadians had done wrong in the fighting on the Somme. Currie summarized the primary factors behind successful French offensive operations as: careful staff work, thorough artillery preparation and support, the element of surprise, and a high state of training in the infantry units detailed for the assault.
Currie, in command of the 1st Canadian Division, was responsible for the broad southern sector of the Canadian Corps advance and expected to make the greatest advance in terms of distance. The attack was to begin at 5:30 am on Easter Monday, 9th April 1917. By the end of the first day, the 1st Canadian Division had captured all of its first line objectives and the left half of its second line. The next morning by 9:30 am, fresh troops had leap-frogged existing battalions to advance to the third objective line. To permit the troops time to consolidate the third line, the advance halted and the barrage remained stationary for ninety minutes while machine guns were brought forward. Shortly before 1:00 pm, the advance recommenced and, by 2:00 pm, the 1st Canadian Division secured their final objective.
When Byng was promoted to general in command of the British Third Army in June 1917, Currie was raised to the temporary rank of Lieutenant-General on 9 June, and given command of the entire Canadian Corps. He was called into action for the Battle of Hill 70, which General Haig called one of the finest minor operations of the war.
The Canadian Corps was then transferred from Lens to Ypres to take part in the Battle of Passchendaele. Currie was tasked with continuing the advance started by the now exhausted II Anzac Corps in order to ultimately capture Passchendaele village and gain favourable observation positions and drier winter positions. Rather than one mass assault, Currie designed a series of well-prepared, sharp attacks that allowed the Corps to take an objective and then hold it against the inevitable German counterattacks. By 30th October, the Canadians, aided by two British divisions, gained the outskirts of the village in a driving rainstorm, and then held on for five days against intense shelling and counter-attacks, often standing waist deep in mud as they fought. The Canadians' victory came at the cost of 15,654 casualties, including 4,028 killed.
The final year of the war would send further tests and achievements the way of the Canadians. On each occasion, though losses were not trivial in number, Currie’s meticulous plans allowed for great gains over tricky terrain, including The Battle of Canal du Nord, a brilliantly executed operation that used an unexpected point of attack to achieve a breakthrough.
After the war, Currie was appointed Inspector General of the Armed Forces and was then promoted to full general on 10 December, the highest ranking position in the Canadian forces. Currie intended to use the position to reform the military. However, in the post-war period, military funding was cut and Currie encountered significant opposition from the military bureaucracy to organizational changes. Deeply unhappy, Currie retired from the military, and in May 1920 accepted the position of principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University in Montreal.
Currie suffered two strokes and died on 30th November 1933 at the age of 57 at Royal Victoria Hospital from bronchial complications brought on by pneumonia. His civilian and military funeral on 5 December was held in Montreal and was the largest to that point in Canadian history.
Conclusion
Currie was a meticulous planner who prioritised preparation and detail. He continually adapted tactics to the realities of trench warfare, and integrated artillery, infantry, and engineering units in coordinated assaults, laying the groundwork for combined arms tactics. Currie understood the importance of empowering junior officers and soldiers, promoting a culture where everyone understood their role in the mission. This decentralised approach allowed Canadian units to maintain momentum even under difficult circumstances, a major factor in their battlefield success.
Currie's success wasn’t just tactical—it reshaped Canada's national identity. His leadership during the war elevated Canada’s status on the world stage, proving the effectiveness of Canadian troops and contributing to the country’s post-war independence from British control.
Follow the Canadian Corps on the Western Front
Sophie’s Great War Tours have a number of Canadian Corps experts. If you would like to follow in their footsteps, understand their missions and successes, we’d love to show you.