The Duke of York was modelled from life in 1812, Leopold I, King of Belgium, in 1817, the Bishop of Norwich in 1820, and George IV a few days before his coronation in July, 1821. Sir Walter Scott’s figure in Highland costume was taken from life in Edinburgh in 1828, a year after George Canning’s likeness had been similarly obtained.
It was in 1828 that Madame Tussaud took a portrait of the miscreant Burke, immediately after his execution; and she modelled from life his accomplice, Hare, while he was in prison in Edinburgh.
Prince Talleyrand’s figure was modelled from life by Madame in 1832, Lord Eldon in 1833, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel in 1835, and Lord Melbourne in 1836.
In that year Madame Tussaud took from life a model of the Duchess of Kent, the mother of Queen Victoria, which proved a great attraction. By this time the Exhibition had found a home in Baker Street, where it became established in the spring of 1835.
Concerning the travels of the Exhibition, it is on record that Madame Tussaud visited North Shields on the 2nd of December, 1811, and Edinburgh in 1811-12. Early in the latter year we find her on the 28th of February at “4 The Market Place, Hull, just opposite the Reindeer Inn.” She was in Leeds on the 28th of September, and in Manchester on the 2nd of December, 1812. There is an entry in an old account-book which says, “Left the house in Criggate, Leeds, Monday, November 16.” It is pretty clear that the Exhibition was located in Newcastle in January, and in Liverpool on the 13th of April, 1813.
In 1817 the Exhibition was shown at “Mr. Sparrow’s Upper Ware Rooms, Old Butter Market, Ipswich, having lately arrived from the Concert Rooms, Canterbury, and lastly from the Assembly Rooms, Deal.”
It was probably when the Exhibition was visiting Cambridge in 1818 that a worthy Don made the suggestion that the figures of criminals should be placed in a separate room. Too long would be taken even to name all the places that were visited by the Exhibition, but there is an account in the Coventry Herald that on the 14th March, 1823, the cordial thanks of a meeting of school managers were presented to Madame Tussaud for her “unsolicited and handsome donation of a moiety of the receipts of her Exhibition on Monday evening last.”
Among the figures taken on tour at this time were models of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Dauphin, Voltaire, and Madame St. Amaranthe (Tussaud’s “Sleeping Beauty”), taken a few months before her execution. These identical figures, as already stated, are still in the collection.
To trace the travels of the Exhibition there is no need. For some years Madame, with her sons, Joseph and Francis, went on tour throughout the country. A misadventure in the Irish Channel, when she was on her way to Dublin, threatened the enterprise with disaster. The vessel which carried their precious belongings was partially wrecked, and many valuable exhibits were lost. Undaunted by the bufferings of Fate, and helped by friends, Madame replenished her Exhibition and brought it up to date.