[1] His father, a British Army officer and member of the landed gentry, was originally from Warwickshire, where the family's seat was Foxcote House.
Canning was educated privately in England and also attended the Lycée Charlemagne in France, and was said to have "a thorough knowledge of several European languages".
He later went to New South Wales, working as a storekeeper, and in Tenterfield in 1856 married Elizabeth Annie Morgan, with whom he would have eight children.
[1] In 1883, Canning was posted to Western Australia to open a branch of the Bank of New South Wales in Perth.
[1] At the 1897 general election, he ran for the seat of Canning,[b] but was defeated by Frank Wilson (another future premier).