[nb 1] He was the younger son of Henry Crossland, who is recorded in the 1851 census as being a farmer and quarry owner, and his wife, Ellen (née Wilkinson).

[6] He worked with Scott on the design of the model village Akroydon, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, commissioned by the worsted manufacturer, Edward Akroyd.

[11] Crossland's three most important commissions, all now Grade I listed, were: The Holloway Sanatorium and Royal Holloway College were inspired by the Cloth Hall of Ypres in Belgium and the Château de Chambord[18] in the Loire Valley, France, respectively and are considered by some to be among the most remarkable buildings in the south of England.

In her biography of Crossland, published in 2020, Sheila Binns provides the most complete list yet of his architectural commissions, drawing on and supplementing earlier work by John Elliott,[21] itself based on a compilation by Edward Law.

[73] On 1 October 1859,[3][74] Crossland married Lavinia Cardwell Pigot (who died in Boulogne, France on 17 January 1876).