The son of Finlay McCance, he was born on 12th Feb 1865 in Belfast.  He was educated at the Academical Institution in Belfast and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1884 followed by a BA in 1887.  He was called to the bar at King's Inns, Dublin, in1889.  He was J.P and D.L. for Co Antrim and Chairman of the County Council.  He lived at Suffolk, Dunmurry, the family estate, where he continued the family linen business alongside his legal and political work.  (The extract below adds "flavour" to this.)

In 1890 he married Mary Letitia Bristow (b.1865) who was the daughter of James Thomson Bristow and Elizabeth Laird.  They had four children.  Finlay was born in 1891, Henry Bristow in 1893, Robert Alexander in 1898 and Elizabeth Lillias in 1902.

John Stouppe Finlay McCance (1856) was responsible for the excellent upkeep of the Glen until he died in 1926. He employed a gamekeeper, Millar, who kept the Glen well stocked with fish and wildlife - famous for the shoots and hunts it used to have. He is supposed to have charged a toll to people who wished to cross the bridge from Suffolk to Hannahstown. Remains of his cottage can still be seen on the hill next to the Gamekeepers Bridge.

The Glen became famous for the shoots, which provided local men with a source of income as they were paid half a crown to beat out the pheasants and grouse. Woodbourne House was the house closely associated with the shoots and it later became a notable hotel before development swamped the area and the site became used for Woodbourne RUC Station.

The Glen remained in the hands of the McCances until 1943 when it was sold to the McMaster family who later sold off parts of it. A section of the Glen was bought by Gilpins (of Sandy Row), a name still synonymous with furniture manufacture and retail, who felled trees in the lower Glen for their furniture business. This was at a time when it was difficult to import hardwood due to the continuing hostilities of World War II. They wanted to expand this operation so in 1946 the National Trust moved in and bought the Upper Glen to prevent further removal of trees.