The eldest son of John McCance, he was born at Ashley, Dunmurry, on the 16th Oct 1891.  He was educated at St Bees and at Queen's College, Oxford, where he gained a BA (1st class-history) in June 1913.  He joined the Army and served as 2nd Lieutenant with the 2nd Battallion of the Border Regiment in 1914.  He was fatally wounded at Boulogne in the Great War and died on 22nd May 1915.  He is buried in the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais.