John Tiller

John Thomas Ibbotson Tiller (13 June 1854 in Blackburn, Lancashire – 22 October 1925 in New York) was a musical theatre director who was credited with inventing precision dance and was the originator of the 'Tiller Girls'.

John Tiller always had a keen interest in music. He was always a perfectionist to the point where very few people could live up to his standards. At ten years old he became a choirboy, and with his perfectionist qualities, he became choirmaster by fourteen. His obsession with neatness and cleanliness was to earn him the excellence for which he was later to be renowned.

He took music lessons with a tutor named Dr Hiles, who later went on to be Professor of Harmony and composition at the Royal Northern College of Music.

One of John's uncles, John George Tiller, owned a successful cotton agency (one of the largest in Manchester) and was very wealthy. With a huge house and servants, John made up his mind that he wanted the same life style. He got on very well with his uncle who took him into the family business and treated him like a son. During the day John worked in the cotton trade and after work he devoted himself to music and acting. He had a very forceful character and soon progressed to management in the cotton industry, and was well known in the local area due to his immense appetite for life. At 19 one of his girlfriends (Mary Carr) told him she was pregnant and he married young, having 10 children in 11 years. By this time John was a full partner in the cotton business and he was living in a large house like his uncle.

He also pursued his theatrical ambitions and became stage manager of an amateur theatrical group made up of local business people who would perform a Minstrels act in Manchester theatres.

On Christmas Eve 1873, he married Mary Elizabeth Carr at St John's Parish Church in Manchester.

In 1885 John became director of the Comedy Theatre Manchester and during the same year he began teaching children to dance. His early pupils practised for hours every Saturday afternoon amongst the bales of cotton in one of the firm's warehouses. He also taught at his home to the disapproval of his wife.

His first dance performances were at small local church dances, and due to his position as director of the Comedy Theatre Manchester he was able to arrange his small dancers a place in the theatre's Christmas pantomime (his first real Performance although not credited at the time).

At this time everything went wrong for him in his uncle's business. His uncle's son who was now old enough to work was brought into the family business. His uncle also took to drink and became an alcoholic. John had a huge argument with his uncle that ended in a violent quarrel; John stormed out and set up his own business, never speaking with his uncle again.

John Tiller carried on presenting dancers in an amateur capacity. With this taking up more and more of his time, it made it hard for him to concentrate on making a living in the cotton industry. By this time his real interest was with the theatre and dance and he was getting bored with his chosen career. In 1890 John was asked to present a quartet of children for the pantomime Robinson Crusoe at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Liverpool.

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