Born at Dunedin, New Zealand, 16 January 1877 son of James Crawford, inspector of works, and Margaret Jessie his wife, he was educated at Otago High School and University. He held resident posts at Christchurch Hospital and was appointed medical superintendent of Wanganui Hospital, thus beginning an association which lasted for more than fifty years. He came to England in 1906 and worked for two years at the Middlesex Hospital where he formed friendships with his contemporaries (Sir) Gordon Gordon-Taylor and Victor Bonney. After taking a course in midwifery at the City of London Hospital he went back to Wanganui in 1909, and was appointed surgeon to the Hospital. In the course of nearly fifty years' practice he became the leading member of the profession there, for he never retired though in later years he had to give up surgery on account of a tremor. He was for many years a moving spirit in the Wanganui division of the British Medical Association. He visited Europe, England, and the United States in 1928, including many hospitals and surgical clinics in his itinerary. Crawford married at the Regent's Square Presbyterian Church, London, on 3 September 1908 Frances M Pitt who died in 1947. He died at Wanganui on 22 December 1957 aged nearly 81. There is a photograph of Crawford as a young man in the College's collection.