Herbert James Tily (1866-1948) was bookkeeper, auditor, chief accountant, and then general manager of Strawbridge & Clothier. He organized the Strawbridge & Clothier Chorus of store employees.

Tily was born on February 3, 1866, at Farnham, Surrey, England, the son of James Tiley and S. Letitia Coleman Tily. The family came to America in 1868. Tily was first employed at the Philadelphia department store of Strawbridge & Clothier as a messenger boy at age fourteen. From this beginning, he advanced to bookkeeper, auditor, and chief accountant before being made general manager in 1905. He became a member of the firm in 1918, vice president when it was incorporated in 1922, and finally president in 1927, the first person outside the founding families to hold that post. He was active in both trade and civic affairs.

Tily's mother tutored him in both French and music, inculcating a lifelong interest in cultural matters. Tily became a non-professional musician and composer of some note and a prominent figure in the Philadelphia music scene. In 1905, he organized the Strawbridge & Clothier Chorus of store employees, who for many years gave performances of sacred music for shoppers during the Christmas and Easter seasons and also performed in local music venues. Tily was also president of the Philadelphia Summer Concerts Association, which staged outdoor performances of symphonic and operatic music in Robin Hood Dell in Fairmount Park. Tily died at his home in suburban Cynwyd on December 28, 1948.