anson's first appearance in london was at the olympic theatre in 1873, in the comedy "sour grapes" by h. j. byron. in the following year he was in a production at the same theatre of shakespeare's "much ado about nothing", in the role of verges. up to 1875 he was in other plays at this theatre, including "lady clancarty", "the ticket-of-leave man" and "henry dunbar", all by tom taylor; in "henry dunbar", playing the role of the major, "his picture of light-hearted