Who was Vesta Tilley?

Vesta Tilley (1864-1952) was an English music hall performer and one of the most famous male impersonators of her era. Typically playing fops, dandies or principal boys, Tilley became England’s highest-paid woman of the 1890s. Born Matilda Alice Powles, she started performing under the name Vesta Tilley in 1878. Tilley was a diminutive of her real name, Matilda, and Vesta referred to the Latin word for “virgin”.

Tilley typically performed as a dandy or fop, but also embraced other characters, such as clergymen and police officers. By the 1880s, Tilley was the favourite performer at music halls. Her favourite character was Burlington Bertie, a young aristocratic man who aspired to a life of leisure in the West End of London.

When Tilley first began acting, music halls were a place for gentlemen only. Her biggest fans, therefore, were men, but during the 1870s women were permitted to attend performances too. The majority of these women delighted in Tilley’s shows, enjoying her sense of independence. Protests for women’s rights were underway, and Vesta Tilley became a prime example of a woman succeeding in a man’s world.

When the First World War began in 1914, concerts became less frequent, but Tilley continued to act and sing where she could. Tilley organised charity events where she performed dressed in military uniform and encouraged young men to enlist in the army, earning her the nickname “England’s greatest recruiting sergeant”.