1930
William John Crozier is born at 5pm on 5th May in Yoker, Glasgow, the second son (the first, also called William, having died shortly after birth) of Robert Charles and Flora Crozier.
Robert Crozier, formerly a bank employee and owner of a bus company until the 1929 Depression, is a plumber employed at Stephens & Sons shipyard at Govan, Glasgow.

1935
Crozier family moves to Troon, Ayrshire, after Robert Crozier is promoted to foreman at Ailsa shipyard.
William attends Barassie Junior School where he meets William Irvine, who is to become a lifelong friend.
Troon gives him an enduring passion for boats and the sea.

1937-45
Birth of brother, Robert.
The Croziers travel regularly to family home in Ballinderry, County Antrim, Ulster.
William's grandparents live to be over 100, and receive telegrams from the King and De Valera.

1942-8
Attends Marr College, a non-denominational school, founded in 1935 by Sir Thomas Marr.
With Irvine, takes keen interest in art; both read Colour: Theory for Schools and Colleges (Reeves, London, 1933) by Arthur MacMorland, art master at Marr.
Chairman of school, Sir Alexander Walker, drinks magnate, art collector and philanthropist, encourages Crozier and Irvine, inviting them to visit his collection of paintings at Piersland, the home in Troon that he has built and decorated in accordance with Wilde's lecture 'The House Beautiful'.

1946
By the age of sixteen, Crozier has developed a strong vocation to be an artist; he joins the Ayr Sketch Club, a semi-professional arts club, and exhibits there with William Irvine.
Sees Picasso-Matisse exhibition at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow.

1947
Visits Paris for the first time with William Irvine; they live in tented accommodation for refugees and displaced persons in public parks.

1948
Sees Vincent van Gogh exhibition at Kelvingrove; Picasso and Van Gogh are to be seminal influences throughout his life.

1949
In the summer Crozier hitch-hikes around Ireland, an enthusiastic member of the Youth Hostels Association and An Oige; visits Antrim, Dublin, Galway and Bantry.
Enrols in Fine Art Department of Glasgow School of Art: studies architecture, painting and drawing; taught by Mary and William Armour, and David Donaldson.
Encounters the plays and novels of Jean-Paul Sartre and other existential writers.

c.1950
Meets Robert MacBryde in Troon and Robert Colquhoun in London.
Visits Paris with Irvine.
In Edinburgh meets William Gear and visits his studio; forms lifelong friendship with the older artist.

1951
Visits touring exhibition of paintings and prints by Edvard Munch from Munch Museum in Oslo, exhibited at Kelvingrove.
First public exhibition with Irvine at Carnegie Institute, Ayr; artist J.D. Ferguson arranges for his wife, Margaret Morris, Director of the Scottish Ballet, to open the exhibition of paintings, drawings, collage and sculpture, dedicated to Paul Eluard.

1952-3
Elected President of Students' Union at GSA, where he directs protest against purchase of Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross by Dr T.C. Honeyman,
Director, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery.
Travels through Highlands and Loch Lomond, staying in youth hostels and camping on Isle of Arran.

1953
Graduates from Glasgow School of Art with Diploma in Painting and Drawing, including first-class grade for dissertation.
Leaves Glasgow for Paris, living in Saint-Germain-des-Pres.
Returns to London and rents rooms in Royal Avenue, Chelsea.

1954
Living in Chelsea and Edinburgh; employed with Irvine making puppets for Jenny Gibson's puppet theatre which performs at Edinburgh Festival; through Gibson, meets Eduardo Paolozzi in London who becomes a friend.
Gravitates to Soho, in particular the Dean Street Club, Gargoyle, Caves de France and French House, becoming part of artistic and literary society around Dean Street; among friends and acquaintances are painters Colquhoun and MacBryde, Francis Bacon, John Minton and Gerald Wilde; and poets George Barker, Paul Potts, Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg.
Marries actress Elspeth McKail and moves to Dublin.

1955
Birth of son Paul.
Scene painter at Olympia, Gaiety and other Dublin theatres; lives in Lower Baggot Street and frequents McDaids bar; meets Patrick Kavanagh, Brian O'Nolan (Myles na gCopaleen) and Anthony Cronin.
Works for Modern Design, arranging shop-window displays for department stores.
Performs nightly dance routine at club on O'Connell Street.

1956
Returns to England: establishes home and studio in Folkestone; works as a caster in a plastics factory and later as a photographer.
With Irvine and John Wright creates a series of 'chance' assemblages, based on found objects from the beach.
Corresponds with Elia Kazan; invited by him to visit New York but does not take up invitation.

1957
First London exhibition, Stimulants, with Irvine and John Wright, at Parton Gallery, above David Archer's bookshop in Greek Street, Soho; attracts attention of Colin Wilson, Stephen Spender, Francis Bacon, Dom Moraes,
Christopher Logue and citizens of Soho.
Beginning of friendship with Ralph Rumney.

1958
Exhibits for first time at Drian Gallery, London: abstract Portrait of Princess Margaret brings notoriety; Drian director Halima Nalecz introduces him to a wide range of contemporary European abstract artists.
Included in exhibition 14 Peintres de Londres, Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris.
Solo exhibition of large paintings at Artists International Association; invited by Adrian Heath to join AIA committee.
Establishes home and studio in Pebmarsh, north Essex: meets Paul Hogarth, a close neighbour; visits Colquhoun, MacBryde and Elizabeth Smart at Tilty Mill; divides time between Essex and London.
In London joins the circle around Gaberbocchus Common Room in Formosa Street; delivers lecture with Irvine entitled 'Don't Bore Me' to accompany exhibition there.
Frequents ICA in Dover Street and is invited to lecture there: the event, 'Tranquilisers and Happy Pills', is chaired by William Turnbull; ensuing debate pits Crozier against Deputy Director of ICA Lawrence Alloway.

1959
Rents part of a house owned by artist-friend Bryn Jones in Castelnau, Barnes, with Gillian Ayres and Henry Munday.
William Scott offers his teaching post at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, where he works alongside Heath, Ayres, Munday, Howard Hodgkin and Robyn Denny.
Exhibits Essex Landscape with Arthur Tooth & Sons.
Enters Premio Lissone competition, Italy; awarded 1st prize for 'young international painter'; painting also called Essex Landscape.
Birth of daughter Siobhan.

1960
Contracted to Drian Gallery, London.
Returns to Ayrshire to make drawings and paintings in preparation for Drian solo exhibition in August.
Exhibits at Bristol Art Gallery; mixed exhibition subsequently tours to Denmark.

1961
Offered contracts by Marlborough Fine Art Gallery and Arthur Tooth & Sons; accepts Tooth's. Exhibits at Tooth's in British Painting Today and Yesterday and afterwards with COBRA artists in Recent Developments in Painting IV.
Exhibits in New Directions exhibition at Manchester City Art Gallery with Denis Bowen and Brian Wall.
The West (1961) is accepted for John Moores exhibition and purchased by John Moores for presentation to Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, purchases Essex Wilderness (1960).

1962
Signs contract with Arthur Tooth & Sons. First solo show at Tooth's.
Shows in mixed exhibition at Kunstverein, Hamburg.
The Carnegie Institute buys a drawing that is included in Drawing International.
Exhibits Portumna and Lemon Hill in British Art Today, exhibition organised by Lawrence Alloway for San Francisco Museum of Art.
Death of Robert Colquhoun.
Crozier family living in Gypsy Hill, South London.

1963
In late January leaves London for Spain: arrives 9th February in Gibraltar and takes taxi to mountain village of Alhaurn el Grande near Mlaga; lodges with Anthony Cronin at La Corona, and afterwards rents house La Huerta del Chorro, also in Alhaurn; but by September, the isolation becomes intolerable and, encouraged by Halima Nalecz, he returns to London, travelling via Barcelona, Lyons and Paris.
Solo exibition at Arnolfini, Bristol.
Takes part in the CAS Tate / Whitechapel exhibition British Painting of the 60s, which tours to Eindhoven.
Selected for John Moores; exhibits Vine Porch (1963), which is sold from exhibition.
Selected for Premio Lissone; exhibits Vine Hill.
Solo exhibition of animal paintings at Tooth's.

1964
Arthur Tooth & Sons extends his contract for a further year. Solo exhibition at Tooth's of work undertaken in Spain.
Combines work as an artist with scene painting for London theatres and part-time teaching at Ealing School of Art (with William Brooker), West of England College of Art, Maidstone College of Art and Central School of Art. Exhibits in Arts Council 6 Young Painters exhibition with David Hockney, Peter Blake, Allen Jones, Dorothy Mead, Bridget Riley and Euan Uglow.

1965
Morris Kestleman, Head of Fine Art at Central School of Art and Design, offers him a regular part-time teaching position. Staff includes Cecil Collins, Adrian Berg, Hans Tisdall, Blair Hughes-Stanton and Norman Ackroyd.
Becomes interested in printmaking and learns etching.
Receives invitation to give a lecture at Winchester School of Art.
November solo exhibition at Richard Demarco's Traverse Art Gallery in Edinburgh.
Marriage separation.

1966
Takes part in inaugural exhibition of Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh.
Meets Marcel Duchamp at Tate dinner held in Duchamp's honour.
First exhibition in Glasgow at New Charing Cross Gallery.
Visits Padua to see Giottos in Arena Chapel and Venice to see Titians and Tintorettos.
Travels with Brian Wall and families to southern Spain, stopping en route in Madrid to visit the Prado.
Following the death of his father in Troon, he buys a house, 2 Conway Road, London N14, for his children and mother.
Death of Robert MacBryde in Dublin.

1967
Donates Aviator to Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries.
Invited by students to lecture at Glasgow School of Art.
Regular teaching at Central School of Art & Crafts.
Extended visits to Venice and Paris.
Attends funeral of Patrick Kavanagh in Dublin.

1968
In Paris witnesses and participates in 'Les evnements' in May.
Appointed Head of Fine Art, Winchester School of Art.

1969
Visits former concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen.
Death of friend, artist Bryn Jones.
Inspired by prints of Mexican engraver Jos Guadalupe Posada, begins a series of 'skeleton' paintings.
Selected to take part in survey exhibition English Landscape Tradition in the 20th Century at Camden Arts Centre, London.

1970
Exhibits 'Skeleton' paintings at Drian Galleries, London, and dedicates exhibition to Bryn Jones.
W. Gordon Smith makes documentary William Crozier for BBC TV Scotland.

1972
On the suggestion of Denis Bowen, gains artist's residency in Prilep, Macedonia: travelling en route with daughter Siobhan, he visits Paris, Munich (coinciding with Munich massacre at Olympic Games), Zagreb, Belgrade,
Slovenia, returning via Trieste and Venice; becomes interested in medieval icon painting and woodcarving seen in monasteries, visits Islamic cemeteries, and is influenced by the decorative folk art of the Balkans; at the end of his residency, donates paintings to Fine Arts Museum of Skopje.

1973
Adopts Irish citizenship.

1974
Visiting lecturer at Royal College of Art, London.

1975
Solo exhibition at Compass Gallery, Glasgow.
Invited by critic Norbert Lynton to participate in Body and Soul, a major survey exhibition of figurative painting at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
Mixed exhibition at Drian Galleries (with Bellany, Bowen, Forbes, Pelling, Walker and Wolfram).
Attends the funeral of Eamon De Valera in Dublin.

1976
Spends summer months painting on the island of Sanday, Orkney.
On returning to London tries without success to set up 'London Centre for European Painting and Graphics', an artists' studio complex in Covent Garden organised along the lines of Cit des Arts in Paris, and his artists' residency in Yugoslavia.

1977
Spends summer painting in Ballyandreen, East Cork.

1978
Selected by David Annesley, on behalf of Arts Council of Great Britain, to exhibit at the Serpentine Gallery, London.

1979
Invited by Australian artist William Wright to take up residency at New York Studio School, NY: lives in Chelsea Hotel and is given the Thomas Hart Benton studio to work in the Studio School.
With Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and John Bellany, represents Britain at Independent Artists Group, Dublin.

1980
Returns to still life painting which he exhibits with New York landscapes of Gramercy Park and Union Square at Swiss Cottage Library Gallery, London.
Union Square, New York selected for John Moores Exhibition 12.

1981
Marries Katharine Crouan; they establish a home (Bunbury Cottage) and studio in Winchester, Hampshire.

1982
The Rowan Tree is selected for John Moores 13.
Visits Moscow and Leningrad: lectures at Artists' Union and becomes interested in icon paintings of Andrei Rublev and others in Tretyakov Museum, Moscow.
Spends summer painting in Mlaga.

1983
Solo exhibitions at Brompton Gallery, London and Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh.
Included in exhibition British Art: New Directions at Puck Building, New York.
Spends summer painting in St Cannat, Provence.
In December, purchases a cottage at Kilcoe, West Cork.

1984
From now on Crozier spends part of each year in West Cork, maintaining studios there and in Hampshire.
With Denis Bowen becomes involved in Celtic Vision Group, a loose association of artists from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Galicia in Spain and Brittany, France; this leads to solo exhibition at The Old Court Gallery, Windsor.
Exhibits seven large oils in Demarcation 84, Edinburgh College of Art, as part of Edinburgh Festival.
Invited by Gabriella Cardazzo to exhibit still life paintings at Galleria del Cavallino in Venice and afterwards at Guelfi Gallery in Vicenza.

1985
Shows Irish landscapes for the first time in Another View of Ireland: Exhibition by Irish Artists at Five Dials Gallery, Neal Street, London.
Angela Flowers establishes a summer gallery in Rosscarbery with an inaugural exhibition of Crozier's landscapes.
Solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.
Wins 1st prize for The Rowan Tree at Cork Art Now, a large survey exhibition of Irish art curated by the Crawford Museum and Art Gallery in Cork.
Returns to Moscow and Leningrad to study the art collections, returning in particular to medieval icon paintings.
The Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr, with the Scottish Arts Council, curates a 'miniretrospective', which tours Scotland.

1986
Solo exhibition at Gallery 10, Bruton Street, London.
Invited by the city arts officers of La Corua, Spain, to mount a large solo exhibition of landscapes; this introduces him to Galicia in northern Spain.

1987
At Winchester School of Art, establishes the first ERASMUS programme in Fine Art for a joint degree with the University of Barcelona.
Created Professor Emeritus of European Studies by Winchester School of Art.
Retires from all teaching.

1988
Accepts a contract with The Scottish Gallery (London and Edinburgh).

1989
Solo Edinburgh Festival exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, The End of the Modern World, based on the eponymous poem by Anthony Cronin.
Solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, Cork Street, London.

1990-91
Halima Nalecz bequeathes thirty works by Crozier to the National Museum, Gdansk, Poland.
Spends a four-month period in New England, painting the coastal landscape between Little Compton, Rhode Island, and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
The Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, curates a mid-career retrospective that subsequently tours to the Royal Hibernian Academy Galleries, Dublin.
Radio Telefis Eirean makes a fifty-five-minute documentary, The Truth about a Painter.
Elected to become a member of Aosdna.
Solo exhibition at Taylor Galleries, Dublin; gallery becomes his representative in Ireland.

1992
With the help of Guadalupe (Lupe) Castro, explores the interior of Tenerife and La Gomera, becoming attracted by the plants and landscape interior of the Canary Islands.

1994
A visit to Greece and the Greek islands prompts a series of 'island' paintings, fusing classical mythology with the landscape of Roaring Water Bay in West Cork.
Awarded the Douglas Hyde gold medal for painting by the Arts Council of Ireland for The Departure From the Island.
Exhibits in The Colourist Tradition at City Art Gallery, Edinburgh.
Moves to Wickham, Hampshire.

1995
Solo exhibition A Passion for Nature at Bruton Street Gallery, London, includes an appreciation of his work by A.S. Byatt.
Renews his interest in printing, making carborundum prints with James McCreary and James O'Nolan at the Graphic Studio, Dublin.

1996
Solo exhibition William Crozier at Bruton Gallery, London.
Makes two films (Charleston and Meon Shore) as part of the series Summer
Painting for Meridian TV, UK.

1997
Solo exhibition at Galerie St Jacques, Brussels.

1998
Exhibition A Greater Garden at Taylor Galleries, Dublin.

2000
Commissioned to paint six large paintings for the boardroom of the newly completed headquarters of BNP Paribas, London.
In West Cork, presents two solo exhibitions devoted to new concerns in art.
Exhibition of still life paintings and Skibbereen Tin Trays, a homage to the decorative art traditions that inspire him.

2001
Invited to be an Honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, Ireland.
A fire in his Hampshire studio destroys the work prepared for a forthcoming exhibition in Paris.
Invited by Helen and Robert Kime to spend the summer months at their house near Apt in Haute Provence to recover; begins a new body of work inspired by the Provenal landscape.

2002
Returns to Provence to paint.
Solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.

2003
Extended period painting in Provence and West Cork.

2004
Solo exhibition at Taylor Galleries, Dublin; shows Provence landscapes.
Returns to Provence.

2005-6
Solo exhibition at Fenton Gallery, Cork, as part of the European City of Culture celebrations.