[1] He was born on 9 August 1822 in Ayr the second son of the auctioneer and poet Archibald Crawfurd (sic) and his wife Catherine Craig.
[2] His father placed him at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh, under Sir William Allan, where he gained a travelling bursary, which enabled him to study in Rome for about two years.
On his return he conducted the drawing classes of the Trustees' Academy for several years, and also occasionally contributed art criticisms to Edinburgh newspapers.
He was very successful and in 1850 is listed as a "portrait painter" living at a huge Georgian townhouse at 46 Great King Street in Edinburgh's Second New town.
[4] He found the patronage of Alexander Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank (an Edinburgh judge) in mid career.