Crowther was Mayor of Auckland from 1891 to 1893, after serving as a city councillor for sixteen years.

[1] Crowther represented the City of Auckland multi-member electorate first as a Liberal Party then independent conservative from 1893 to 1900, when he died of stomach cancer, aged 66.

Aged nineteen, he migrated to Victoria, and was a successful contractor on the goldfields for ten years.

[6] As well as serving on the city council and as Mayor of Auckland, Mr. Crowther was also a member of the governing body of Auckland College and Grammar school, the University College Council, the city schools' committee, the Charitable Aid Board, and Sailors' Home.

Crowther died on 15 March 1900[6] and was buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.