Lil Hawthorne

Lil Hawthorne (4 July 1877 – 22 March 1926) was an American-born British stage beauty, music hall performer and pantomime Principal Boy.

In 1889 aged 12 Lilian Hawthorne was cast in the role of a small boy in the comic opera Paola after which she and her younger sister Adelaide joined the theatrical company, The Bostonians, for whom they appeared in The Knickerbockers, Robin Hood, and The Ogallalas.

[2][3] She performed with her sisters in Boston and New York before transferring to England, making her first appearance in London at the Palace Theatre in 1896, singing Leslie Stuart's popular song, "Willow Pattern Plate".

[6] As they lost professional engagements due to appointments with the police and the nervous strain Hawthorne suffered because of these and giving evidence at the trial, on 7 April 1911 HM Treasury authorised the payment of £100 in respect of expenses incurred and loss sustained by the couple in connection with the case of Rex v.

After various business enterprises including beach catering and owning a garage her husband found a new career in writing film screenplays.