Painter in oil, watercolour and mixed media, and teacher, born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was educated at Ridley College and after a brief period in business studied with the landscape painter Frank Johnston, one of the Group of Seven, then at the Art Students’ League of New York, 1929; in 1930 at the American School of Fine Arts, Fontainebleau; then for several years in Paris including time with André Lhote, 1932. After settling in London, with the outbreak of World War II Cronyn was commissioned in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1940, serving in several ships, his final posting being to Saigon. Early in the war Cronyn had volunteered for bomb disposal; he was awarded the George Medal for defusing a bomb in the volatile tanker Chesapeake.