A medal, a tour, a war: the story of Duncan Currie's 1914 Rosebery Charity Cup medal that returned home

After more than a century in Denmark, a small gold medal belonging to a Hearts defender killed at the Somme has entered the club museum’s permanent collection — a material link between pre-war football and wartime sacrifice.

Heart of Midlothian is pleased to announce the acquisition of Duncan Currie's 1914 Rosebery Charity Cup medal — a rare and deeply personal object that connects the club's pre-war footballing achievement with the human cost of the First World War.

Currie, a left-back from Kilwinning who signed for Hearts in April 1912, was one of the finest young defenders at the club. A valiant tackler with pace and composure, he was considered by contemporary reporters to be destined for international honours. He made over 65 appearances for Hearts, earning medals in the North-Eastern Cup, the East of Scotland Shield, the Rosebery Charity Cup, and the Wilson Cup. He was also part of the Hearts squad that, in June 1914, achieved a celebrated 2–1 victory over the Danish national team on tour.

The Duncan Currie Medal made its way back all the way from Sweden to Tynecastle Park

It is that Danish connection that gives the medal's journey its remarkable arc. Shortly after winning the Rosebery Charity Cup in May 1914, Currie toured with Hearts to Denmark. How the medal came to remain there — whether it stayed after the tour or found its way across at another point — is not fully known. What is known is that it eventually came into the possession of Erik Brethvad: a collector, and a soldier who himself served during the liberation of Denmark in 1945. It was recently offered to the club by his grandson, Georg Brethvad Larsen, who now lives in Sweden.

Duncan Currie enlisted with McCrae's Battalion — the 16th (Service) Battalion Royal Scots — on 25 November 1914, alongside many of his teammates in what became one of the most celebrated episodes in the club's history. He rose to the rank of Sergeant. On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, he was killed leading his platoon. He was 23 years old. He was posthumously awarded the Victory and British War medals.

Duncan Currie, Sgt the 16th (Service) Battalion Royal Scots

The museum at Tynecastle, currently holds a small group of early Hearts medals, including Rosebery Charity Cup medals awarded to Tom Jenkinson (1885–86 and 1889–90) and Bob Mercer (1916–17). Currie's medal adds something none of the others can offer: a direct, personalised material trace of a squad player who served and died with McCrae's Battalion. Until now, no medal associated with Currie was held in the collection.

McCrae's Battalion remains a cornerstone of the Hearts Museum's narrative, and this medal will allow the museum to present that story not only through collective history but through one man's life — from a hairdresser's apprentice in Kilwinning, to a maroon shirt at Tynecastle, to a sergeant's stripes on the Somme.

The medal, which has undergone full provenance research and due diligence review, was purchased by the club and is expected to go on display in the War Years cabinet. The museum thanks Georg Brethvad Larsen for his generosity in returning this object to the club.