 Jack Crawford was born on 1 December 1886 at Cane Hill, Coulsdon, Surrey, the youngest of three sons to the Rev John Charles Crawford and his wife Alice; the couple also had three daughters. Crawford senior was the chaplain at the recently opened Cane Hill Asylum, in the grounds of which Crawford was born. He grew up in a cricketing environment. His father and uncle, Frank Crawford, played first-class cricket for Kent; his brothers Vivian and Reginald were also first-class cricketers. The whole family played cricket and encouraged Crawford from a young age, and from the age of eleven he regularly played with adults.
