of Lyons, and Box in Box and Cox – he determined to go on the stage. His tutor at Giggleswick recognised that Hare was not cut out for the civil service, and at his urging Hare's uncle agreed to let the young man pursue a stage career. Returning to London, Hare studied under the prominent actor Leigh Murray. In September 1864 Murray arranged for Hare to join the company at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Liverpool. Hare's first professional appearance was as Smallpiece in John Oxenford's play, A Woman of Business. Among the company were J. L. Toole (a guest star), Squire Bancroft, Lionel Brough and William Blakeley, with all of whom Hare was quickly on friendly terms. After Toole the company had another visiting star, E. A. Sothern, who encouraged the young actor and insisted that he should be cast in a leading comic role in Watts Phillips's new comedy The Woman in Mauve, which Sothern premiered at the theatre in December 1864. On 12 August 1865 Hare (still known by his original surname, Fairs) married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Adela Elizabeth Holmes (1845–1931), daughter of John Hare Holmes, whose middle name Hare borrowed for his stage name. The marriage lasted more than fifty years; the couple had one son, Gilbert, who became a successful actor and manager, and two daughters, one of whom, Effie, married Bancroft's son George. As a newly married man Hare seriously considered leaving the stage in favour of more secure employment in the civil service; nevertheless he wrote to the actress and manager Marie Wilton, seeking to join a new company that she was setting up at the old Prince of Wales's Theatre in London. He was accepted, and his theatrical career in the West End began. The Prince of Wales's and The Court: 1865–1879 Hare made his London debut in September 1865, playing Short, the landlord, in Naval Engagements, an old comedy by Charles Dance, given as a curtain raiser to H. J. Byron's extravaganza Lucia di Lammermoor. Two months later Hare came to wide public and critical attention for his performance in T. W. Robertson's comedy Society. The Times later commented: [Hare] bounded into fame more quickly, perhaps, than any actor of our time. On the eventful evening of November 1, 1865 – momentous to the English stage no less than to Hare – Tom Robertson's Society was produced, with Hare cast