9. Daisy and Violet Hilton

9. Daisy and Violet Hilton

Daisy and Violet Hilton were born in 1908 in England. Their mother refused to keep her daughters and instead sold them to a woman named Mary Hilton who became the twins’ guardian. Mary Hilton gave the girls her surname and placed them on display in the back room of a pub, where anyone who paid the price of admission could see them. The twins were exploited by their new guardian until her death, after which, Mary’s daughter Edith and her husband took over the guardianship.

When the girls became teenagers, their new guardians placed them among famous vaudeville legends. The girls too became legendary and earned extraordinary sums of money which went directly to their guardians. The twins were kept captive and were forced to practise their talents, such as violin and the saxopohone, for hours on end.

However, Harry Houdini advised the twins to educate themselves on their public persona through the media and this led to their pursuit of liberation through the justice system. In 1931, Daisy and Violet were granted emancipation and for the first time ever, confronted the world by themselves.

Since the twins never had to manage their finances previously, their fortune dwindled away quickly and their success diminished. Desperate, the twins asked the owner of a grocery store to take them on full time and led the rest of their lives far away from the spotlight.