He died in France in World War I. Ernest Crawshaw was born in Christchurch and educated at Christchurch Boys' High School, where he captained the school's cricket and rugby teams.
[1] In 1908 he was awarded the school's inaugural Deans Memorial Scholarship, presented to a senior boy with outstanding personal qualities.
[2] He became an accountant, and married Elsie Lorraine Gunn Francis.
[1][3] He played cricket for Canterbury while still at school and appeared several times for them before World War I, making some useful contributions as a bowler and fieldsman.
[4] During the war he enlisted in the 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment and travelled as part of D Company 36th Reinforcements to France, sailing from Wellington in May 1918.