He made his first appearance on the stage aged fourteen at the Queen's Theatre, Hull, as Romeo, on 16 July 1849, under the management of Mr Caple, who took a great interest in him and gave him a thorough theatrical training.
[1] After an engagement at Norwich he joined Samuel Phelps at Sadler's Wells Theatre, and there, as Malcolm in Macbeth, made his first appearance on the London stage on 27 August 1853.
In 1860 he commenced a series of dramatic recitals, and he also impersonated at the principal provincial theatres leading characters in Richard III, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Lady of Lyons, Tom Taylor's Still Waters Run Deep, and Hamlet.
In January 1870 he played Courtenay, Earl of Devon, in Tom Taylor's' Twixt Axe and Crown, in which his wife achieved a popular triumph.
[1] His biographer in the Dictionary of National Biography wrote: "In his prime Rousby was a conscientious actor, with a good voice and a mastery of correct emphasis, but he gave an impression of stiffness and self-consciousness, which grew on him and prevented him from rising high in his profession.