John Luce was born on 4 February 1870 at Halcombe,[1] Malmesbury in the English county of Wiltshire. In 1902, he married Mary Dorothea Tucker[2] and they had three children. The eldest, Alfred, was born on 6 November 1903, also joined the Navy and was executive officer of HMS Norfolk during the pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck.