He began his professional career in 1843 at the Theatre Royal, Bath in the play The Wonder by Susanna Centlivre, in the role of Lissardo.

[1][3] In 1853 John Anson and his family moved to London, where his first appearance was at Astley's Amphitheatre; he played there the Shakespearean role of Falstaff, and Bailie Nicol Jarvie in a dramatization of Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy.

[1][5] He played a part in establishing the Royal Dramatic College, a retirement home for actors: this ambitious project, which originated in 1858, was supported by Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray.

In 1860, land was purchased from the London Necropolis Company in Woking for the building, and the college was opened a few years later.

[1][6][7][8] John Anson died in February 1881; he was buried in the Actors' Acre at the London Necropolis (Brookwood Cemetery).