EDWARD CROWE WAS born in the Ionian Islands, where his father, Arthur Louis Crowe was vice–consul. Educated at Bedford School, he was appointed a student interpreter in Japan on 1 April 1897. From then until 1906, he moved up through the consular ranks, serving at Yokohama, Kobe and, from 1904 to 1906, as acting consul at Tamsui in the newly-acquired Japanese colonial empire. Along the way, he married Eleanor Lay, in 1901, the daughter of William Hyde Lay, a China consul. Her brother, Arthur Hyde Lay, was acting Japanese secretary when Crowe was a language student.

Crowe's interests did not lie in Japanese scholarship. Instead, he seems to have had an eye for detail and an interest in trade – something not at all common among his colleagues – which led to his appointment as commercial attaché in Tokyo in 1906. Commercial attachés were then a relatively new development as the Foreign Office woke up to the challenge posed to Britain by international trade competition. The first, Sir Joseph Crowe (father of another British diplomat, Sir Eyre Crowe, but no relation to Edward), was appointed in 1880 to cover the whole of Europe from Paris. By 1906, posts were to be found in Berlin, Madrid, Constantinople, Vienna and Beijing. Crowe's appointment indicated the growing importance of Japanese trade.

The post carried prestige, but the financial rewards were not generous. He noted in 1913 that his salary was £900 a year. Crowe's only other recognition was the award of a CMG in 1911. Apart from leave, he remained commercial attaché, assisted by a commercial secretary, until 1918. Much of his work appeared in an annual trade report, published jointly by the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade. These complex documents show Crowe's detailed grasp of his subject and still make interesting reading. Several ambassadors testified to his knowledge and diligence. Sir Conyngham Greene wrote in 1913 that ‘… I do not know any member of the staff of His Majesty's Embassy or of His Majesty's Consular Service here who deserves more highly of His Majesty's Government, and, I may add, of myself.’

Greene's praise came in a covering letter forwarding a major memorandum prepared by Crowe on a non-commercial subject. Basic consular salaries in Japan had not increased since the late 1860s. To alleviate financial needs, local allowances had been adjusted.