While still a youth he acquired some stage experience, appearing in characters ordinarily assigned to women, such as the page in John Cartwright Cross's musical drama, The Purse.

[1] To the influence of Dorothea Jordan, who in 1802 saw him in Margate, Bartley was indebted for his engagement by Richard Brinsley Sheridan at Drury Lane Theatre.

John Genest makes no mention of him before 20 September 1803, when he is described as playing Colloony in The Irishman in Distress, a farce of William Macready the Elder.

Walley Chamberlain Oulton, in his History of the Theatres of London, states that on 19 January 1803, Barrymore, while playing Polydore in The Orphan by Thomas Otway, went down with a serious illness, and resigned the character to Bartley.

[2] According to a reference in The Times,[3] Bartley was part of the original cast in John Tobin's The Honey Moon, given at Drury Lane on 31 January 1805, in which he created the role of Count Montalban.

For some five years Bartley seems to have been mainly employed as understudy, replacing John Bannister, who then took serious characters, and occasionally attempting roles left vacant by the departure of Charles Kemble.

On his return Bartley accepted a winter engagement at Covent Garden Theatre, and played during the summer under Samuel James Arnold at the Lyceum.

[1] In 1829, when the management of Covent Garden collapsed, Bartley headed the actors who came forward with a proposal, which was accepted, to furnish funds and recommence performances.