VESTA TILLEY'S FAMILY: ROOTS AND
MOVEMENTS.
by Mike Casselden Oct 1996 and 2001 (based on an article that
first appeared in The Call Boy, the official journal of the
British Music Hall Society, Winter 1996, Volume 33, No.4)
This article about Vesta Tilley (referred to as her family name
Tilley) arises from my on-going family history research regarding
my Broughton ancestors from Worcester and was encouraged by the
President of the British Music Hall Society, Mr Roy Hudd. Others
will be far more conversant with Tilley's role in the history of
music hall. Here, I mostly document various 'snapshots' in time
which simply fill in a few gaps and add more detail about her
family background and movements. At the outset, I wish to record
my thanks to the then Hereford and Worcester County Record Office
for its help and guidance in locating new historical material.
Vesta Tilley (literally, Vesta, meaning 'virgin' and 'Tilley', a
family nickname for Matilda), second of thirteen children, was
baptised Matilda Alice Powles at St Peters the Great, Worcester,
on 11 September 1864. The parish entry shows that her mother was
named Matilda and that her father was William Henry Powles, a
china gilder.
At some time in the 1860/70's, Tilley's father, William Harry
Powles (stage name Harry Ball), was manager of the St George's
Music Hall, Nottingham. Coincidentally, I had discovered other
'lost' Nottingham ancestors and was intrigued to know more about
Tilley's family, particularly as my paternal grandmother was Ada
Broughton from north London, daughter of Alfred Broughton,
oil-sheet maker, Matilda's only brother. Little information was
available locally, so to start with I obtained a copy of Tilley's
autobiography 'Recollections of Vesta Tilley' (Hutchinson 1934)
and Sarah Maitland's book, 'Vesta Tilley' (Virago 1986).
'Recollections..' gave little family detail, apart from
confirming Tilley's birth in Worcester and a few generalised and
somewhat incomplete references to her father. Nothing is said
which identifies her mother's background, except to mention that
her name was Matilda Broughton Powles. This point is taken up by
Sarah Maitland who says that nothing was known about her. That
spurred me on to set the record straight and to clarify details
of Tilley's extended family.
Roy Hudd kindly loaned me 'The Great Little Tilley' by Gwynedd
Sudworth (Cortney 1984), an author from Worcester, Her book was
largely anecdotal, largely based on details from Tilley's
autobiography; although it did have some local information and
references to surviving relatives, the latter of which I was
unable to pursue, as Gwynedd had, unfortunately, since died.
However, I was having extremely useful contact with Hereford and
Worcester Record Office and the Worcester Evening News which sent
me interesting press cuttings about Tilley.
Hereford and Worcester Record Office found the BROUGHTON family
at Diglis, which is next to the River Severn on the outskirts of
Worcester, in the 1851 census. Present were Matilda's father,
Samuel, a sail-maker; his wife, Elizabeth; their daughter,
Elizabeth, a glover; my great grandfather, Alfred; and a lodger
called Mary Ann, a stay maker. Matilda was absent, although only
9 years old. At the time of the 1861 census, the family were at 2
Court Road, Worcester. The entry shows Matilda, 19, a
dress-maker, at home with her parents, Samuel and his wife, Betsy
(Elizabeth) and sister, Elizabeth, a boiler maker's wife.
Interestingly, the adjacent street on the census list was
Commandry Street where Tilley was born 3 years later.
In her book, Gwynedd Sudworth says that about 1866 William Henry
Powles had changed the family name to BALL. Indeed, she compiled
a list of children, some with this surname. She also said that by
1868 William was managing the St George's music hall in
Nottingham and that the family was still there in 1871. There
seemed to be a consensus of opinion that by then, Tilley and her
family had left Worcester. However, my search of the 1871 census
at the Nottingham Record office failed to locate the family under
either POWLES or BALL, so I assumed they must still be in the
Worcester area.
Hereford and Worcester Record Office then found the family under
the name of BALL in the 1871 census at 48 Wylds Lane, in the
parish of St Peter, Worcester. Number 48 had 3 residences and one
was occupied as follows: 'Matilda Ball, wife, married, 28, born
Worcester; Matilda A. Ball (Tilley), daughter, 6, born Worcester;
Maud E. Ball, daughter, 2, born Worcester; and Matilda Bridges,
lodger, unmarried, button-maker, born Bristol.' On the next
sheet, an entry for 46 Wylds Lane shows 2 residences, one being
my 2 x great grandmother, 'Elizabeth Broughton, head, widow, 70,
pauper , born Worcester; Elizabeth Broughton, daughter, widow,
warehouse woman, born Worcester; and Annie (in fact Amy) Ball,
granddaughter, 8, scholar, born Worcester. '
This is interesting: firstly, Tilley (Matilda A. Ball) is at home
with her mother, although, strangely, she is neither described as
a 'scholar' nor child performer. Her father, William , was
absent, perhaps on tour. Tilley's sister, Annie Ball, is two
doors away with her widowed grandmother in receipt of parish
relief and her aunt Elizabeth who is working. Matilda was at
home, no doubt pregnant with Henry, baptised in Worcester on 8
October 1871. This shows an important extended family
relationship and an image of working-class poverty which Sarah
Maitland says Tilley was born into.
I discovered that Matilda's brother, Alfred Broughton, had first
married in Birmingham but later found his way to London with his
second wife, Amelia Bridges (my great grandmother) whom he also
married in Birmingham. It transpired that she was, indeed, the
buttonmaker and lodger from Bristol living with Tilley's family
at 48 Wylds Lane that we originally thought to have been a
sister!.
Hereford and Worcester Record Office found no entries for either
the BALL or POWLES family in the 1881 census which now, most
usefully, has a name index by county. I hypothesised that the
family might have settled in Birmingham, perhaps not moving to
Nottingham, after all. Warwickshire County Record office then
located an extract of the census name index showing the Ball
family at 170 Cheapside, Aston. Matilda Ball is described as the
'head' of the household, aged 37, with no employment.
Neither Tilley nor William were there, although the following
siblings are listed: 'Amy, daughter, 18, no employment, born
Worcester: Lizzie, daughter, 12, born Worcester; Jessie,
daughter, 4, born Nottingham ; May, daughter, 3, scholar, born
Birmingham; Eva, daughter, 2, scholar, born Birmingham: and
Arthur, son, 1, scholar (!), born Birmingham.' Despite the wrong
ages for Lizzie and Jessie, which is to be expected, the details
are a unique record of the family and its movements. Tilley and
her father were probably on tour and, indeed, show up with
brother Henry (Harry) in Surrey in the 1881 census.
The family had been in Nottingham during the mid 1870's, proof
offered by Jessie's birth certificate. She was registered under
the name of POWLES and born 25 May 1875 at 63 St Michael Street,
which is on the east side of the present day Victoria shopping
centre. William Henry Powles was described as a 'musician' and
her mother as 'Matilda Powles (formerly Broughton).' If May's age
is right, then the family was back in Worcester during 1878.
I realised that the reference to William Henry's death in 1883 in
Tilley's autobiography was inaccurate, since it also said he had
met Tilley's prospective husband, Walter de Frece, about 1888 ,
an inconsistency repeated by Gwynedd. I checked the Probate and
Grant of Administration records and found that William had died
on 10 October 1888. Thus the date in Tilley's book was a proof
reader's error. The Grant of Administration entry had described
William as a comedian who died at Mousall, near Manchester. His
wife, Matilda Powles, of 3 Braithwaite Road, Sparbrook, inherited
his personal estate of £1,000-16s-1d.
Not only had Gwynedd identified this address as their home in the
Birmingham area, but she also referred to their burial in the
churchyard at St James the Great, Shirley. I located the church
near Solihull and discovered that Matilda had died on 15 April
1901, aged 58. Her last address was 43 Somerleyton Road, Brixton,
presumably living with or near Tilley. The grave is marked by a
stone cross with an inscription dedicated; 'In loving memory of
Mother' by Vesta and her siblings. Just recently, kind
correspondents have taken photographs and these are now included
on the web site on the Graves page.
My main research objectives had been achieved, despite loose ends
to tie up, such as the marriage of Matilda and William and the
POWLES family origins. The use of BALL as a stage and
intermittent family name was intriguing, although I didn't expect
to find the answer to this. However, I found an International
Genealogical Index entry for the marriage of William Henry Powles
and Matilda on 19 August 1862 at Whittington in Worcestershire.
Hereford and Worcester Record Office confirmed this and kindly
sent a copy of the church entry with the original signatures. The
document showed that, indeed, Matilda's father was Samuel
Broughton, Sailmaker; but quite surprisingly, William's father
was a William Henry BALL, butcher!
My investigation could not have reached a more uniquely
satisfying yet puzzling note, largely due to the somewhat
esoteric way I had followed up the various clues as they arose,
somewhat out of chronological sequence! Initial research
suggested that Wiiliam may have been adopted by the POWLES
family, although this has now been discounted (see POWLES/BALL
family tree and notes). Certainly, at some stage William Henry
adopted the 'Harry Ball' as a stage name using whilst using the
alias BALL as a family surname, perhaps depending on the level of
anonymity he sought as his and Tilley's fame increased?
All this is speculative. What we do know is that Tilley was very
close to her father, although one might wonder just how
dominating he was, given her importance as a vital source of
income to this working-class family. Tilley's book implies that
until her mid twenties, her father took careful control over her
life and who she met. Her mother, Matilda, no doubt, had an
arduous domestic role in the background bringing up thirteen
children, largely single-handed, albeit supported by her extended
family. As a dressmaker, she probably made Tilley's costumes
along with my great grandmother and her sister-in-law, Amelia
Matilda BROUGHTON. For these reasons, I am particularly glad that
her identity has now been revealed.
Tilley ultimately became Lady de Frece, involved in politics
through the work of her husband as a Conservative MP who was
knighted, and she died an affluent woman in the early fifties.
However, it is said she always acknowledged her humble origins.
Her early days as a child performer were surely as tough and
demanding as the experiences of many other children facing the
everyday world of work, in the Victorian era. The untimely death
of her father, her agent, when she was only 24, seemed an
important watershed in her life. Within two years she was to
marry Walter de Frece and, perhaps, gain greater control over her
theatrical career. She must have been devastated when he died in
1935 in Monte Carlo. More important I think, these glimpses of
the ordinary events of her early family life help us to see that
the music hall was, for a successful performer like Tilley, an
escape from the grinding poverty of working-class life.
July 2001