Bourchier's first professional appearance was with Lillie Langtry in 1889, as Jaques in "As You Like It". He also acted with Charles Wyndham at the Criterion Theatre and travelled to America to appear with Augustin Daly's company, for whom he later played the part of Robin Hood in Tennyson's "The Foresters" at its London premiere. In 1893, he appeared together with Violet Vanbrugh, elder sister of Irene Vanbrugh, in Daly's production of "Love in Tandem" at Daly's Theatre in London. The two married the following year and had a daughter, Prudence Bourchier (b. 1902), who also became an actress and took the stage name Vanbrugh.