Born in London – in Lincoln's Inn Fields by some accounts – he worked for several years as a clerk for the South Sea Company before turning to acting.
Back at Goodman's Fields in 1736 he celebrated the marriage of George II's daughter Anne and William of Orange with a revival of Richard Steele's popular The Conscious Lovers.
[5] His further progress was dramatically ended by Prime Minister Robert Walpole's strict new Licensing Act 1737 which meant that he could no longer legally stage plays in London because he didn't control one of the patent theatre licences.
In London he joined the Drury Lane company, playing Sir Harry Wildair in The Constant Couple amongst other roles.
Giffard again tried to base himself at Lincoln's Inn Fields, but his attempt to establish a third top-flight London theatre alongside Drury Lane and Covent Garden had essentially failed.