It started as a Scottish baker of ship's biscuits in a public house on The Shore, Leith in 1813.
William Crawford & Sons established large factories in Leith and Liverpool so that, at its peak, it was one of Britain's largest biscuit manufacturers and claimed to be its oldest.
In 1856, William Crawford (1818–1889) bought an established bakery at 31 The Shore, Leith from Robert Mathie (1789–1863).
[8] This huge factory, the Fairfield Works, stands on Binns Road and was designed by their brother, the architect Alexander Hunter Crawford in 1895, taking two years to build.
[2] In 1927 Crawfords were one of the first factories to provide employees with their own social club and sports facilities: at Sandown Hall in nearby Wavertree.
[12] United Biscuits, formed in 1948 from two Scottish companies, MacFarlane Lang and McVitie & Price,[13] acquired William Crawford & Sons in 1960 for £6 million.