Daisy and Violet Hilton, best known for being entertainers as well as conjoined twins, defied odds and had a successful career before their tragic demise.
Conjoined twins develop when an early embryo only partially separates to form two individuals and they remain physically connected. They are most often joined at the chest, abdomen or pelvis.
It is a rare occurrence, representing about one in every 500,000 live births in the UK, meaning one set of conjoined twins is born each year in Britain, on average, as per the BBC.
Conjoined twins unfortunately have a poor mortality rate, according to the National Institutes of Health.
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It’s claimed that the total survival rate is just 7.5 percent while only 60 percent of surgically separated cases live.
However, Daisy and Violet, born in 1908, are a pair of conjoined twins who managed to defy these statistics and lived until 1969.
A tragic start
Joined at the hip, the duo were born in Brighton but were later sold by their mother to a woman called Mary Hilton.
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After purchasing the twins, Mary bestowed her surname on the girls. She then hauled them out on tour from the age of three.
It’s said that she would also flog pictures of the conjoined twins to punters in the pub she owned in an attempt to make some cash.
Following Mary’s death, Daisy and Violet were then willed to her daughter Edith - like property - who ensured the twins learnt how to dance and play musical instruments while keeping all the money they earned.
Fortunately, though, they found a way out of the ‘contract’ and eventually gained autonomy over their own lives.
A blossoming career
The Hilton sisters continued to make their money as performers and in 1952, they starred in the movie Chained For Life.
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The exploitation film was directed by Harry L. Fraser and incorporated aspects of the twin’s real-life as well as several vaudeville acts.
However, their time in the limelight came to a close in 1961 after their manager abandoned them.
After making their last public appearance at a drive-in in Charlotte, North Carolina, and having no money to their names, the siblings went on to work in a local shop.
A sad demise and a lasting legacy
However, tragedy struck in 1969 when both twins caught the flu.
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Daisy died soon after contracting the illness and suffered greatly from symptoms, while Violet dying two to four days after her twin - meaning she was attached to the remains of her sister before she eventually succumbed to the same illness.
Nowadays, conjoined twins can undergo surgery to be separated if one of them falls terminally ill.
But as medicine and procedures were not as advanced in the 20th century, it’s thought that this wasn’t an option for the pair.
Following the English-born entertainers’ death, the duo have had musicals performed in their memory and have had a bus named after them.
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A commemorative blue plaque has also been erected at the property they were born in Brighton which reads: “The Hilton Twins. Violet and Daisy Skinner. 1908-1969.
“Stars of stage and screen. Born here.”
Sara Keenan