According to the Internet source given below, Matilda Alice Powles was an English music hall performer born in Worcester, England.
Just 11-years old she adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley becoming one of the most famous male impersonators of her era. With a career of over 30 years, she was a star in both Britain and the United States for over thirty years.
Her father, Harry Ball, was a comedy actor, songwriter and music hall chairman managed her career. She first appeared on stage at the age of three and a half and when six-years old she performed her first role in male clothing, billed as "The Pocket Sims Reeves" (a famous opera singer at that time). Under her father's management, she toured extensively in the provinces. When at St George's Hall in Nottingham, her father was also the hall's chairman. She performed in other towns such as Birmingham, Hull, Leicester, Derby and Liverpool often billed most often as 'The Great Little Tilley She was billed as Vesta Tilley for the first time in 1878 when performing at the Royal Music Hall in Holborn, London.
As she grew older she performed songs portraying young men behaving either embarrassingly or badly as well as playing the principal boy in a number of pantomimes. During the First World War she and her husband ran a military recruitment drive, as did a number of other music hall stars. She retired in 1920 and made her final appearance at the Coliseum Theatre, London.
Vesta Tilley died in London.

Websites:
	Vesta Tilley	Biography by wikipedia.org.

Half Past Nine Music by: George Le Brunn. Words by: Wal Pink Performed by: Vesta Tilley Publisher: J. J. Eggers Suppliers: Printed: 1893. Sheet Music.

This list is derived from information provided by Monologues.co.uk which went down sometime in 2023.
The loss of this valuable resource is very sad and a mystery.