Tom was baptised on 16th February 1877 and although babies were often baptised on the day of their birth, he could have been born a day or two earlier. Because this is the earliest documented date, 16th February is the day chosen to celebrate his birthday.

Tom Crean was recruited to the expedition ship RRS Discovery, by Commander Robert Falcon Scott, when the ship Tom was serving on, HMS Ringarooma — a vessel that was part of the Australian Squadron — was moored in Lyttelton, New Zealand. It could be that he was recommended to Scott by crew members of Discovery who had served with Crean previously on the Pacific Station in America. For Crean it is likely that he wanted change after spending an unhappy time in the Navy before heading to Antarctica. His Naval record up to this point provides some evidence of this with the only demotions on his record.

He went on three expeditions to Antarctica. His first was on RRS Discovery with Captain Robert Falcon Scott from 1901–1904. His second was again with Captain Scott on Terra Nova from 1910–1913. His third and final expedition was with Sir Ernest Shackleton on Endurance between 1914–1916.

He is famous for his bravery and acts of heroism undertaken on the coldest and most inhospitable place on the planet — Antarctica. In 1913 he became one of the rare recipients of the Albert Medal for bravery, awarded for undertaking a 35-mile solo march through snow, ice and blizzards to save the life of Lieutenant Edward Evans. Along with Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Worsley, he also played a primary role in the historic rescue of his colleagues while serving on the Endurance expedition between 1914–1916.

The two men shared a good relationship of mutual respect. Humour often played a part in their interactions even when the odds were against them, such as their conversations during the hazardous journey to South Georgia in the James Caird lifeboat. There is no record of Crean's reaction to the death of Shackleton in 1922 but given their shared experiences and close bond, Crean will have felt the loss of his friend deeply.

He married a girl from his home village of Annascaul. Her name was Ellen Herlihy and she had grown up in her father's licensed premises in the same village.

Named because of his association over three expeditions to Antarctica and his journey towards the South Pole with Scott on the Terra Nova expedition, it was a title given after a renovation in 1929 to a public house that Crean had originally purchased in 1916. The bar still remains standing today, yet at the time of writing it is closed to the public.

His death certificate records that he died from Acute Suppurative Appendicitis and Toxaemia. He contracted peritonitis and was denied a life-saving appendectomy at Tralee hospital because no surgeon capable of performing the operation was on duty. He had to travel by ambulance to the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork but did not survive. He died on 27th July 1938 at the age of 61. Ironically, in his own hour of need, there was no one to save him.

There is strong evidence of a family connection yet it is quite tenuous. Crean was probably the first cousin of Tim Foley's grandfather's first wife, Hanoria Courtney, who was married to Timothy D Foley on the same date and at the same Annascaul church — the Church of the Sacred Heart — where Tom's elder brother Hugh was married on 18 February 1896. Tom's mother Catherine Crean, née Courtney, was present to witness her son's and, very likely, her niece's weddings. Tim is the grandson of Timothy D Foley's second wife Mary Foley, née O'Brien.