Early Years
Tilley was born in Commandery Street, Worcester, Worcestershire in 1864. Her father was a comedy actor and sometimes theatre manager, and Tilley first appeared on stage at the age of three and a half. At the age of six she did her first role in male clothing under the name Pocket Sims Reeves, a parody of then-famous opera singer Sims Reeves. She would come to prefer doing male roles exclusively, saying that "I felt that I could express myself better if I were dressed as a boy". At the age of eleven she debuted in London at the Canterbury Hall the name Vesta Tilley. "Vesta" referred to a brand of safety matches, and "Tilley" is a nickname for Matilda.
Tilley began to be known for her singing of comic numbers, including "Girls are the Ruin of Men" and "Angels without Wings", both by George Dance.
She married Walter de Frece at Brixton Register Office on 16 August 1890.
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