[1] After leaving Oxford he attempted to pursue a political career, unsuccessfully standing for the Conservatives in the Mid-Durham constituency at elections in 1885 and 1890.

During this period he was prominent in amateur theatricals, often staged by him together with the professional Arthur Bourchier, raising money for charitable causes.

[2] His role, the Hon Reginald Slingsby, was a comic upper-class knut, and Vane-Tempest was frequently cast as similar characters during the rest of his career.

[1] When Hubert Henry Davies wrote Captain Drew on Leave for Charles Wyndham's company (1905) Vane-Tempest created the role of Mr White.

[1] Among his later stage appearances was as Lord Alfred Blakeney, the aide-de-camp in George A. Birmingham's General John Regan, produced by Charles Hawtrey at the Apollo Theatre in 1913.