Rafael Crame was born in Tambobong, Province of Manila (now Malabon, Metro Manila) to Don Rafael María de Crame y González Calderon, an artillery officer in the Spanish Army in the Philippines, while his mother was Maria Perez de Tagle.

[citation needed] Crame studied at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and then enrolled in the Spanish military academy from 1879 up to 1881.

[1] Upon completion of his cadetship, Crame was employed by the Spanish government in the Negociado de Contribución Territorial.

In 1907, Captain Rafael Crame presided over the preliminary investigation of Philippine Independence Leader Macario Sakay and his group after they were arrested in a deceitful entrapment orchestrated by the American officials who initially promised general amnesty.

On August 7, 2003, 76 years after his death, Crame's remains were exhumed from the La Loma Cemetery in Manila, and he was given a hero's burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig the following day.