Tilly Devine
| Tilly Devine | |
|---|---|
Tilly Devine in 1925
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| Born |
Matilda Mary Twiss 30 September 1900 Camberwell, London |
| Died | 24 November 1970 (aged 70) Concord Repatriation Hospital, Sydney |
| Burial place | Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park |
| Nationality | English Australian |
| Other names | Queen of Woolloomooloo |
| Years active | circa 1920s – 1950s |
| Known for | Razor gangs, madam, sly-grog supply |
| Spouse(s) |
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Matilda "Tilly" Mary Devine (née Twiss) (8 September 1900 – 24 November 1970), was an English Australian organised crime boss in Sydney. She was involved in a wide range of activities, including sly-grog and razor gangs, and prostitution.
Devine was born Matilda Mary Twiss, the daughter of bricklayer Edward Twiss, and Alice Twiss (nee Tubb) at 57 Hollington Street, Camberwell, London in the United Kingdom. In 1915, she and many English and Australian women were found working as prostitutes and thieves. At 16 she married an Australian serviceman, James (Jim) Edward Devine, (born Brunswick, Victoria, 1892, died Melbourne, 1966), on 12 April 1917 at the Sacred Heart Church, Camberwell, London. The couple had one son, born at Camberwell in 1919.
Her career in prostitution began when she was a teenager and continued after she was married. She and many English women were usually found soliciting on the wide footpaths on The Strand, at night. From 1915 onwards to 1919, she spent time at Bow Street Court and Lock Up for prostitution, theft and assault.
When Jim returned to Australia she followed him back on the bride ship Waimana, arriving in Sydney on 13 January 1920. Her son stayed in London and was brought up by her parents. Both Tilly and Jim Devine rapidly became prominent illegal narcotics dealers, brothel owners and crime gangs members in the Sydney criminal milieu.
Devine became infamous in Sydney, initially as a prostitute, then later as a brothel madam and organised crime entrepreneur. The NSW Vagrancy Act 1905 prohibited men from running brothels; it did nothing to stop women with criminal gangs' support and bribes to the police from running criminal enterprises. Historian Larry Writer has noted that the Devines ran diversified operations. Elite "call girls" were available for politicians, businessmen and overseas guests of significance, while "tenement girls" were young working class women who resorted to casual prostitution to supplement their drug spendings, clothings and meagre earnings during times of Australian criminal and narcotic culture, absence of a comprehensive welfare state and unemployment. Older female prostitutes, "boat girls", catered to itinerant sailors or working class-men. Devine does not seem to have run similar operations for the gay sex market during this time because she believed it was not right.
Devine's wealth was legendary, although it was all earned from crime. She owned much real estate in Sydney, many luxury cars, looted gold and diamond jewellery and travelled by ship in first class staterooms. Much of her wealth was also used to pay bribes to the police sectors, and fines for her criminal convictions that spanned fifty years. Devine faced numerous court summons and was convicted on 204 occasions during her long criminal career, and served many jail sentences in the New South Wales jail, mainly for prostitution, violent assault, affray and attempted murder. She was known to the police to be of a violent nature and was known to use firearms.
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