 In 1873 Cryan was elected a Fellow of the King and Queen's College of Physicians and he was a member of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.Cryan was the son of Robert Cryan and Mary Anne Cryan of Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland.He had two sisters, Mary Anne and Belinda, two half brothers, Peter, (also a doctor), John, and a half sister, Bridget.