Charles Crichton and Gilbert Laws acted as crew to owner and helmsman Thomas McMeekin aboard Dormy, which won the 6-metre class at the 1908 Olympics. Crichton was a member of the Royal Cruising and Royal Southern Yacht Clubs and while on military service in India he sailed with the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. During the war, Major Crichton served with the 10th Hussars and two days after being awarded the DSO in 1915 he was promoted to Lt. Colonel. Educated at Radley, Crichton could claim a notable aristocratic pedigree. His paternal grandfather was the Earl of Erne and the Earl of Northrook his maternal grandfather. He was the son of Colonel The Hon. G. L. Crichton and in 1912 he married Dorothy, the daughter of the Hon. Eustace Dawnay.