Crutchley was educated at
Emanuel School and joined the
Post Office as a "boy clerk" in 1893. In 1909 he was promoted from clerk to Assistant Surveyor "upon a special recommendation from the Postmaster-General." During
World War I he was appointed to organise the Army postal service and was
commissioned in the
Royal Engineers with the rank of
Captain. He ended the war as an acting
Lieutenant colonel and was appointed
OBE. After the war he served in the
Ministry of Transport 1919–21, then on the staff of the last
Chief Secretary for Ireland at
Dublin Castle until the establishment of the
Irish Free State in 1922. In 1928 he was appointed "British Government Representative for Migration in Australia", and in 1931 he became "Representative in the Commonwealth of Australia of HM Government in the United Kingdom" pending the appointment of the first British
High Commissioner to Australia. In 1935 he was recalled by the Post Office to serve as Public Relations Officer, then was Public Relations Officer in the
Ministry of Home Security, 1939–40 "to undertake the difficult task of explaining to the public the importance of the new
Civil Defence measures." He retired due to ill health shortly before his death. Crutchley was appointed OBE in 1919 and promoted to CBE in 1926. He was appointed CMG in the
1932 New Year Honours and CB in the
1935 Birthday Honours. ==References==