In 1879, at the Royalty, Penley played Grinder in a revival of B. C. Stephenson and Arthur Sullivan's "The Zoo" in a bill in which he also played the wicked Jellicoe in "Crutch and Toothpick" by George R Sims. He then rejoined D'Oyly Carte, playing Sir Joseph Porter in "H.M.S. Pinafore" on tour in 1879. The theatrical newspaper "The Era" said of him, "Mr. W. S. Penley seems to be designed both by nature and art for the onerous part of the 'First Lord', the mock dignity of whose 'official' utterances Mr. Penley brings out splendidly." In March 1880 he appeared at the Gaiety Theatre, London as Matthew Popperton in the extravaganza "La voyage en Suisse", with the Hanlon-Lees comic acrobatic troupe. When the troupe went to the US, Penley accompanied them.