MB BCh BAO Dublin 1917, MD 1920, MCh 1922; FRCSI 1922.
McCrea was born in Ireland in the 1890s and trained in Dublin. He was assistant surgeon at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital in Dublin, but had to leave Ireland due to the political situation. McCrea came to the Salford Royal Hospital in 1922 as registrar in urological surgery and in 1934 became full surgeon to the Hospital. He was also honorary consulting surgeon to Eccles and Patricroft Hospital. McCrea was a well known surgeon, and built up a large and successful practice in Victoria Park, Manchester. He backed up his clinical practice with academic investigations, and was demonstrator in physiology at the University of Manchester. McCrea was also one of the leading lawn tennis players of the world. McCrea was killed in air raids, along with his wife, Edith Florence Willcock McCrea (see above) and two children, in December 1940.