Born in Biesdorf, Germany, on 8th July 1866, Emil Albert Krause was a younger son of the painter Franz Emil Herman Krause (1836–1900) and his wife Johanne Henrietta Amelia Stock. His five siblings included at least two brothers. He and an elder one, Heinrich Max Krause (a.k.a ‘Max Sinclair’, 1861–1931), were both trained as painters by their father, mainly after the family moved to England in about 1876/1878. They formally became British subjects in the 1880s, though Max (recorded as naturalised in 1886) ran into later difficulty on his status during the First World War which Emil Albert seems to have avoided. After living in Manchester and at 42, Birkdale Road, Southport, Lancashire, Franz Krauze finally moved to Conway in North Wales, where Emil also spent some time, as he exhibited from there.