Du Cane amassed great wealth in land and fund holdings,[2] as well as in marine insurance.
[3] He was High Sheriff of Essex in 1744–5,[4] a Director of the Bank of England,[5][6] a Director of the East India Company from 1750 to 1753, vice-president of the London Infirmary, and patron of the vicarage at Coggeshall[7] where he was lord of the manor.
[8] In 1735, Du Cane married a wealthy heiress, Mary Norris, the only daughter of Henry Norris (1677–1762) of Hackney, another London businessman and Justice of the Peace with extensive trading interests in Russia.
Du Cane's portrait, painted while travelling in Italy by Austrian artist Anton von maron (1733–1808) hangs in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
[10] The house itself appears in the middle distance of the central panel depicting the three Du Cane children.