[5] He was intended for a career as a lawyer and served his time as an articled clerk to a solicitor's firm.

[2] He made his stage debut at the Crown Theatre, Peckham, in 1906 in the chorus of A Country Girl and spent the next six years touring in musical comedies.

[6] He made his London debut at the Prince's Theatre in February 1913 and appeared in supporting roles at the Lyceum and the Duke of York's until 1915, when he joined the army.

His classic roles included Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1919), Faulconbridge in King John (1920), Pavel Lebedyev in Ivanov (1950) and Peter Nikolayavich in The Seagull (1953).

[9] In modern plays two of his longest-running engagements were as Maxwell Davenport in The Late Christopher Bean (1933–34) and as Charles Donkin, the central figure in Ian Hay's comedy Housemaster (1936–37).