Vesta Tilley, legend of the stage

by Chris Jaeger
Chairman of The Vesta Tilley Society

Vesta Tilley, as audiences would have seen her.

Vesta Tilley was a remarkable woman by any standards. Here are a few random facts about her:

• Born on 13 May 1864 in Worcester, just off Wylds Lane, she was the second child of thirteen. She never attended school for one single day.
• Despite being named after her mother, Matilda, she never really knew her, and in a 282 page book of memoirs, she mentions her only once.
• She made her stage debut at the age of four, billed as the Great Little Tilley.
• She became a huge star of the music halls, and was one of just a handful of performers who were enormous box office on both sides of the Atlantic.
• She learnt to ride horses, and was taught by circus riders - which stood her in really good stead for when she had to ride in several pantomimes during her career.
• She was one of the biggest pantomime stars ever, and probably did more to define the role of 'principal boy' than any other performer.
• For nearly thirty years, she was almost certainly the highest paid woman in Britain, (well, of the respectable ones!) Actually, Music Hall performers were not always considered that respectable. Vesta fought relentlessly to change that but when she appeared at the Royal Command Performance in 1912, the Queen (and then her entire entourage) covered their faces with their hands, due to the embarrassment the Queen felt at Vesta Tilley's performance.
• While ill in hospital in Manchester, she had the surprise of reading her own obituary in the local paper, when a local hack got things badly wrong. It nearly killed her husband with the shock.
• During the First World War, on one notable night in London, she recruited over 300 men for the army from the stage of a theatre in South Hackney. It was called the Vesta Tilley Platoon.
• She became Lady de Frece after her husband was knighted.
• She was hugely generous with her money, both to her family and to 'good causes'.
• When she retired, she was presented with the 'Peoples Tribute to Vesta Tilley' - signed by more than two million people. It was a remarkable gesture to a remarkable woman from an adoring public.