Portrait of Tilly Devine

Birthday profile

Tilly Devine

Tilly Devine, English-Australian organised crime boss (died 1970)

Born
September 8, 1900
Died
November 24, 1970
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1900

About Tilly Devine

Matilda Mary Devine (née Twiss, 8 September 1900 – 24 November 1970), also known as Tilly Devine, was an English Australian organised crime boss. She was involved in a wide range of activities, including sly-grog, razor gangs, and prostitution, and became a famous folk figure in Sydney during the interwar years. == Early life == Matilda Twiss was born to a bricklayer Edward Twiss and his wife Alice Twiss (née Tubb) at 57 Hollington Street, Camberwell, London in the United Kingdom. Her career in prostitution began when she was a teenager and continued after she was married. Tilly and many English women were usually found soliciting at night on the wide footpaths on The Strand. Between 1915 and 1919, Tilly spent time at Bow Street Court and Lock Up for prostitution, theft and assault. Tilly married an Australian serviceman, James (Jim) Edward Joseph Devine, (born Brunswick, Victoria, 1892, died Heidelberg, Victoria, 18 August 1966), on 12 April 1917 at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Camberwell, London. Tilly claimed to be twenty-one years of age at the time of the marriage, though she was actually only sixteen. The couple had a daughter, Alice Teresa Devine, who was born prematurely at 57 Hollington Street on 8 March 1918. Alice died the following day in the presence of her maternal grandmother and namesake Alice Twiss.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Tilly Devine was born

Tilly Devine was born in 1900. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1900

  • Best-selling book"To Have and to Hold" – Mary Johnston

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Davis Cup tennis tournament
  • Top headlineGalveston Hurricane kills 8,000+ — deadliest US disaster
  • Technology milestoneFirst zeppelin flight
  • World population~1.6B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWilliam McKinley
  • U.S. population76.2M

1900 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Tilly Devine's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19002026
Average income$438$67,500
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population76.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, VIAF, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.