Jack Crawford was born on 19 November 1917 and received his education at Brentwood School and the London Hospital Medical College. After graduation he obtained a post in the clinical laboratory before his house appointments at the London. In September 1939 he became house surgeon to Douglas Northfield and from that date became wedded to neurosurgery. War broke out in that month and he was transferred with the neurosurgical unit to Chase Farm Hospital and continued there until in May 1940 when he volunteered for the RAMC although he was strongly advised to remain in the EMS. In April 1941 he went to the Head Injuries Unit at Oxford under Brigadier Sir Hugh Cairns who was impressed with his ability and recommended him for a similar post overseas. Crawford worked in the Middle East and North Africa, was appointed a graded surgeon in 1942 and gained his Majority in 1943. He then served in Burma under very difficult conditions and for his gallantry in the field was appointed MBE Military Division. At that time also he was appointed to work again under Douglas Northfield, and took his Fellowship in 1947. In 1949 he was awarded a postgraduate travelling fellowship and spent six months at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, USA. In 1951 he was appointed assistant neurosurgeon to the London Hospital and became senior surgeon to that unit in 1967. Most of his work at the London was done at the Brentwood Annexe which had been started during the war and continued in the country for long owing to the shortage of beds at the main hospital; this plan suited Crawford living, as he did, nearby. In 1958 he was appointed Sub-Dean to the London Hospital Medical College and rapidly gained the affection and attention of the students. Crawford was a member of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons and made communications to that Society on the various complications of cerebral angiography; with Professor Dorothy Russell he also published work on hamartomas. In 1945 he married Hilda Brevington who had been a sister at the London; she well understood the difficulties and emergencies which beset the life of a young neurosurgeon and with their four sons provided him with a happy background of family life. Jack Crawford died suddenly on the night of 23-24 February 1968 and was survived by his wife and four sons of whom the eldest, Peter, became a neurosurgeon.