[5] As a teen Bishop was a member of Mr J. H. Chute's Bristol company, which included Madge Kendal, Henrietta Hodson and Ellen Terry.

[6] By 1864 she was in Charles Alexander Calvert's company at Prince's Theatre, Manchester, where she played the title character in Black-Eyed Susan and Cordelia in King Lear, among other roles.

[7] In 1868, Bishop appeared with Edward Askew Sothern in a revival of Our American Cousin, in which The Manchester Guardian thought her "arch" and "lacking in dignity".

[14][15] She then appeared as Ida in Hermann Vezin's production of David Garrick[7] Bishop's most famous stage role was Violet Melrose in H. J. Byron's comedy Our Boys at the Vaudeville Theatre, which she originated in January 1875 and played practically continuously throughout its historic run of four years and four months.

[7] After this, Bishop moved to Australia to head a company produced by Arthur Garner, playing comedies, including The English Rose.

The next season, she moved on to George Rignold's company, as leading lady, in a variety of dramas and comedies, where she stayed for several years, earning strong reviews.

[22] In the late 1880s, Bishop married Lewis J. Löhr, treasurer of the Melbourne Opera House[3] and an entrepreneur, whom she met on a ship bound for Australia.