Matilda Alice Powles (13 May 1864 – 16 September 1952), was an English music hall performer who adopted, at age 11, the stage name Vesta Tilley and who became one of the most famous male impersonators of her era. She was a star in both Britain and the United States for over thirty years.

Biography

She married Walter de Frece at Brixton Registry Office on 16 August 1890.

Her husband was knighted in 1919 for his own services to the war effort, with Tilley becoming Lady de Frece. He was elected Conservative MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in the 1920s and then for Blackpool.

Her autobiography, Recollections of Vesta Tilley, was published in 1934. Vesta Tilley died in London in 1952, aged 88. Her body was buried alongside her husband, at Putney Vale Cemetery and a black granite memorial marks the spot.