Marie Lloyd

Marie Lloyd (1870-1922) was perhaps the greatest star of British Music Hall. She was born Matilda Wood in the Hoxton district of London, adopting the stage name 'Marie Lloyd' in her teens. A number of the songs that she popularised have remained well-known to this day, including her first hit The Boy I Love is up in the Gallery, Oh! Mr Porter (see Crewe, and My Old Man (said Follow the Van)). Many of her songs were noted for their use of double-entendres. When a watch committee in one town objected to the line "I sits among the cabbages and peas" in one of her acts, she changed it to "I sits among the cabbages and leeks".

Her personal life was turbulent. She married three times (and in 1913 was initially refused entry to the USA for 'moral turpitude', on arriving with her then lover) and took to drinking heavily towards the end of her career. She died on 7 October 1922, three days after collapsing on stage.