Lil Foyle

Lillian "Lil" Foyle (née Makepiece) was the daughter of Alfred and Ivy Makepiece. Her family was the first to inhabit 11 Coronation Street after it was built in 1902. Lil was two years old when they moved into the house, then the youngest of the family.

Ivy Makepiece was a disturbed woman whose demons and the poor conditions of the era led her to often abuse her children. Lil was kept off school for years and was totally under Ivy's thumb. When Lil grew up, Ivy's interests lay in placing her daughters in advantageous marriages. Lil was a barmaid at the Rovers Return but Ivy pushed her towards the opposite end of Coronation Street - Tommy Foyle, owner of the Corner Shop. Tommy was flattered by Lil's interest as she was the beauty of Coronation Street, and when she announced she was pregnant he agreed to marry her. The wedding went ahead, even though Lil lost the baby. Lil started helping out at the shop and gave Ivy unlimited credit.

Lil was never faithful to Tommy and shared many of her controlling characteristics with her mother. In 1927, she died of bronchitis.


 * Lil first appeared in Daran Little and Bill Hill's "Weatherfield Life", published in 1992. Other information is derived from Little's follow-up book, "Around the Coronation Street Houses".