The Monmouth Militia was made up of part-time soldiers.  Its officers were appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of the county, and were from the higher social classes. Most importantly, the regiments were 'embodied' (assembled) from time to time for training. It could only be deployed at home, but provided an important contribution to the maintenance of civil order and to home defence.

From 1816 until the 1850s, the Regiment, in common with other county militias, was for the most part inactive. In 1852, however, another Militia Act revived the militias. The Act abandoned the principle of conscription, which had fallen into disuse, in favour of voluntary recruitment. The Monmouthshire Militia was revived with the name the Royal Monmouthshire Light Infantry. 

The Regiment was embodied in 1854, at the time of the Crimean War, but only for home defence duties. It was posted to Pembroke Dock, South Wales in  January 1855 and on Monday the 6th February 1855 relieved the 31st East Surrey Regiment who were bound for the Crimea.

There was always a certain amount of pressure on militiamen to volunteer for overseas service and it appears from Ian's research that the Dance brothers were 'disembodied' in April 1855 and probably attached to a fighting regiment.

The Crimean War ended in 1856.

His brother John Dance (1834) also a blacksmith, married Elizabeth Ann Gandy at Liverpool in 1864. She was born at Widnes in 1848.

They settled at Carnforth, Lancashire and had  twelve surviving children.  Five of their daughters inherited his sisters and mother's Christian names.  John died in June 1895 aged 61. * The notes in italics are from Ian Pearson's research.

I think there was a first child born before they came to Carnforth.  The Warton burial register shows a James Dance of Carnforth aged 4 in 1869, and the internet tells me of a James Dance born in the Widnes area in 1865.
Although we can't now prove it, we can guess that the Dances went to Carnforth when the ironworks opened in the summer of 1866.  So many came to Carnforth that year that there was an initial accommodation problem and the Dances turn up in the nearby village of Warton (1867 birth of Drusilla), before obtaining an ironworks cottage in Carnforth (Bessemer Terrace) by 1869 (birth of Elizabeth Alice).  
I'm amazed they had 12 children surviving to adulthood in Carnforth.  It was not a healthy place, with insanitary conditions and overcrowding in the 1860s and 1870s.  My great grandparents on my mother's side (whom I know definitely were living in Carnforth in 1866 and onwards) lost four of their nine children as babies or toddlers between 1868 and 1876. 

Drusilla Dance born at Warton 1867. (You will know this is a family name dating back to the marriage of James Dance and Drusilla Price in 1831).  Drusilla married railway guard Thomas Haydon (born 1867) in 1890 (Prescot district) - I've only realised in the last few weeks that this is her first cousin on her mother's side - the son of Thomas Haydon and Mary Jane Gandy - Thomas, Jane and Thomas jnr were lodging with the Dances on the 1871 census when Drusilla was 4 and Thomas was 3!   ** His father also named Thomas Haydon (1848) was born in Cowes, France to Irish railway labourer Thomas Haydon (born 1816) and his wife Mary. Tom.   Sources - Warrington 1861 census and Frodsham, Cheshire 1851.

Thomas and Drusilla Haydon had seven surviving children, all born at Ditton.

Elizabeth Alice Dance born 1869. A school teacher on the 1891 census.  She married grocer John Hodgson (born 1870) in 1893 at Carnforth.   Nothing was known of them in the 1960s. There was a child May baptized at Carnforth in 1895.      * A family tree on Ancestry and the 1911 census shows 7 surviving children. TB.    Grocer at High Street, Blackpool in 1901. Six of their children were born at Blackpool. One son, Edmund (Teddy) Hodgson  born Blackpool in 1898, became a respected Pentecostal missionary and was killed by rebels at the Belgian Congo in 1960.          * See photo at bottom of page.

William John Dance (known as Jack) born 1871. Employed as a print compositor and lodging at Blackpool in 1891. He married Agnes Armistead (born 1868) in 1892 at Poulton-le-Sands (Morecambe). He settled as a printer in 11 Queen Street, Morecambe but had his children baptised at Carnforth. The 1911 census records him as a widower living with his four daughters at 1 Hornby Terrace, Morecambe.
Edith Emma Dance bap 1893
Isaac John Edgar Dance bap 1895
Druscilla bap 1898
Clarice Elizabeth Dance bap 1899

Irene Vera 1903
I know nothing about these - and there may have been more children... In the 1960s I was told Jack Dance had been a printer in Morecambe...

Agnes Dance (1873- 1946) married railway signalman William Wood (1870 - 1927) from Ravenglass, Cumberland in 1893. I can't find the marriage at Carnforth Church, which is where I would expect it.  Free BMD says Lancaster District June 1893.  
1) Constance Wood (1893 - 1980s) married c.1920 (1) Ernest Smith. One son died as a teenager before WW2. Ernest died early 1950s. Married c.1955 (2) Robert Sanderson (see below)
2) Mabel Annie Wood (1896 - c.1984) married Miles Mason 1917 two sons, one daughter, nine grandchildren
3) Barbara Price Wood  (1898 - 1985) married  Herbert Pearson (1897 - 1968) in 1920 one son, one grandson (me!)
4) William John Birkby Wood  (1904 - 1980s) married 1935 Margaret Angus  Worked for the railways so lived in family home in Grosvenor Place; his son was still there almost 100 years after his grandparents had moved in!  One son, two daughters; four? grandchildren. 

Mary Anne Dance (known as Molly) born 1876. She married Blackburn telegraph clerk  William Henry Hardacre (1875) in 1899 at Carnforth Church. (It looks from the marriage entry that Will Hardacre was lodging with my gt grandparents at 8 Grosvenor Place).  Living at 41 Grosvenor Place in 1904 and 1911. Buried at Carnforth.
Three daughters -
1) Mary Gertrude (1901 - 1980s) (known as Gert)  married Frank Salisbury Winder in 1928. Lived at Crewe, and probably buried there.
2) Elizabeth Alice (1903 - post 1973) (known as Lal)  married James Ezbon Winder (known as Ezbon and brother of the above) in 1932.  Both buried at Carnforth
3) Annie (1905 - c.1973) a spinster.  Buried at Carnforth. 

Kate (known as Kitty) born 1878.  She married Bradford postman Tom Birtles (born 1879) at Carnforth church in 1901 (the marriage register gives them both at 103 Hall Street, so perhaps Tom was a lodger.)  Son Tom born 1902.
Daughter Lilian born 1905. Photos of these three show Lilian as very good looking! In 1911 they were living at 85 Westminster Road, Morecambe.

Peter Gandy Dance born 1881
Went to Canada soon after 1900 or thereabouts.  'No contact since the 1930s', I was told in the 1960s, but in recent weeks I have discovered in my family photos box a named photo of him and his wife and their son dated May 1933.  I also have other unnamed photos of a family group which look colonial (if you'll excuse the term), and it was this discovery which set me off looking for his descendants.  Fortunately with a name like Peter Gandy Dance it proved fairly easy to locate him and his descendants, and I've been corresponding with his great granddaughter (now in New Jersey).  She tells me that Peter married  Harriet Gertrude Hardacre - which makes me wonder if this was a relative of Wiliam Henry Hardacre...? (free bmd has a Harriet Gertrude Hardacre born Preston District June 1877 which looks like her)   Two children. 

Lucy Dance born 1883. A school-teacher on the 1901 census and a confectionary manageress in 1911. She married Robert (Bob) Sanderson in 1919. Son Edgar born 1920 (died 1987). Lucy died some time in the early 1950s.
Bob was a signalman at Carnforth; one of the vivid memories of my childhood is of visiting him in his signal box and watching him at work - big levers and bells, and trains whooshing past!
Bob then married again in about 1955 to Constance Smith (widow) nee Wood - ie his niece, my grandmother's sister (see above under Agnes and William Wood).  Bob died just before Christmas 1968. I think Connie died in the 1980s.

Jane Dance born 1886  (known as Ginny - which made my father think she was called Virginia  - but Uncle Dave was Scottish - so I think he was calling her 'Jeanie'). A servant at Morecambe and lodging with brother William in 1901. A school teacher living at home with her widowed mother in 1911. She married David Andrews from Scotland (Glasgow I think) in 1913. No children, but this couple were apparently great fun to be with.
It was Uncle Dave who persuaded these Dance Sassenachs to celebrate Hogmanay.  Even as late as the 1960s (he was dead by then, I don't remember meeting him) we were still letting in the New Year and then going off first footing..... Buried in Carnforth cemetery.

James Dance born 1888.
Nothing known about him, say my notes of the 1960s.       

Isaac Dance (known as Ike) born 1892. He too 'went back to Widnes'.   Married May Shaw at Ditton in 1915.   Three children.
John Leslie Dance 1917
Irene (Rene) Dance 1919
Harry Dance 1925

Isaac appears to have been brought up by his mother's sister Jane Fearnett (nee Gandy). He is recorded on the 1901 and 1911 census forms as living with them at Ditton. In 1911 his occupation was given as working in the traffic office of the L&NW Railway.
All three of these were known and remembered in the 1960s, as was Uncle Ike who's the only one of that generation whom I can remember meeting on the occasions when he came to visit my grandmother.  I remember a man of fairly slim build, thin in the face, with white hair (like the Uncle John in the 4 generations photo, and very much like my grandmother's brother William John Birkby Wood - obviously some kind of genetic link?)  

Lavinia Dance born 1894. Her father, John, died in June 1895, aged 61. 1911 census records her as a blouse-maker, living at home, the sweet shop 103 Hall Street, Carnforth with her widowed mother and sister Jane.
She married John Winskill of Kendal in 1916. Buried at Carnforth  Had two sons 
George Winskill 1917 (who was still alive in the 1980s)  
Ernest Winskill 1919 (killed in 1945 in WW2)
I have several photos of the Winskill boys as choirboys at Kendal Parish Church.

Before I sign off a final note about the Dances.  They seem to have been a convivial lot.  My father remembered two things vividly
1) Family parties, and not just Hogmanay - in fact any excuse for a party. (I have several photos of family groups outside a house in Grosvenor Place - either that of my gt grandparents or the Hardacres - and some people I can recognise but not others - there's a group of slightly rotund ladies all with round faces - obviously Dance sisters! - but I can no longer say which is which).
2)  Family holidays - Bournemouth seemed very popular and they went off together in a large group - about a third of the photos I have are holiday snaps!! I can identify my father and my grandparents and the Sandersons and the Hardacres, and Gert and Frank Winder (and others I don't know) all on the beach looking very much like the British on holiday in the 1930s!  Ian

Elizabeth Ann Dance's father was Penketh born shoemaker Peter Gandy (1827-1900). He had married Alice Atherton (1827-1897) in 1848.

The Gandy family were very well known local cobblers in the Warrington area for many generations.  Around 1800-1850 the inhabitants of Penketh were mainly employed as bakers, cabinet makers, cobblers, brewers or boatmen and hauliers on the Mersey and Sankey canal.  (the Gandys were a large cobbling family exporting shoes to the United States)

A group of cottages in Chapel Road, Penketh was known as Cobblers Square, called after a cobbler named Gandy. Thomas Gandy (1812-1871) lived in one of the cottages called Gandy´s Cottage. Other names used were Thomas Gandy´s cottages, Gandy´s House and Gandy´s Row. Most of the families in this area were engaged in the business of shoemaking. Thomas Gandy became a very successful master shoemaker employing his brothers Edward and James and many other men apprentices. He sent his boots and shoes to shopkeepers in Wigan and Manchester besides getting up large shipping orders for Liverpool merchants to export abroad. Isaac´s older brothers William, Peter and James were all shoemakers. In 1861 Williams occupation was given as cordwainer employing three men and an apprentice. 

Throughout the 19th century, census, church and other records for the Warrington area contain a wealth of evidence for the Gandy’s involvement in the shoe-making trade and other trades with links to footwear, such as hosiery. For example John Gandy was a hosier in The Market Place and Golden Square in Warrington in the 1820`s while Mrs Mary Gandy served the nobility, gentry and clergy in Church Street and Horsemarket Street.

The connection between the Gandy family and shoes is even older. I have found Gandys who were shoemakers in the 18th century, such as William Gandy of Prescot, who married Sarah Lingham in 1767 and John Gandy, also shoemaker of Prescot, who married Jane Whittle in 1768. Thomas Gandy, clogger, married Mary Houghton in 1826. James Gandy shoemaker married Ann Smethurst in 1761. Thos Gandy shoemaker married Ann Mason in 1768. Joseph
Gandy shoemaker married Betty Wright in 1769. James Gandy shoemaker and wife Ann –christened son James in 1779 and daughter Lydia in 1782. Joseph Gandy, John Gandy, Thomas, James shoemakers carried on 1785, 1787, 1788, 1790,1795, 1796, - 1808.
Warrington volunteers raised in 1798 to help meet the threat of invasion from Napoleonic France. 539 men serving in 1807, including James Gandey, Warrington, shoemaker.

Another specialty of the Gandy cobblers was clogs: “When you talk of clogs in Warrington, people immediately think of the Gandy’s. And when you mention that name to-day you are referring to 70-year-old Mr. John Gandy, in Buttermarket Street, and his cousin Mr. Douglas Gandy, of Mersey Street — only remaining cloggers in Warrington, and the last of a line of cloggers who began a family business in 1818.”   Mr. Douglas Gandy took over his business from his father Mr. William Gandy, who founded it in 1871.

The main product of the Gandy cloggers were a hand-made wooden clogs, a Lancashire version of the wooden sabot which came to England with Flemish weavers. The clog was used in the tan-yards, factories laundries, breweries and works in the town. “The tiny shop and workrooms at the corner of Mersey Street and Rose and Crown Street date back to around 1850, and over the years tens of thousands of hand-made clogs of all shapes and sizes have been assembled there. These were once sold all over the north to factory and textile workers, and in recent times have been exported to America, Jamaica and other countries.   (from Texan Grant L Davis's tree)

Warrington Memory Lane Poem (click here)

Gandy's clog shop was still at 46 Mersey St (the address given in 'Warrington and District Directory'(1951-52) in my childhood, in the mid to
late 1950s, between Littons Row and Bank St. It was a very small shop, about half the width probably of a normal shop front. As I recall, there was in
the window a head-and-shoulders painted icon of a cobbler with a large moustache, and hammer and shoes (and possibly his last) in his hands, and various pairs of clogs on display. Mersey street was by then very run down.
For most of the way from the Buttermarket/Church St end at Downs's Corner, through to the (west) end near Warrington Bridge, all the terraced houses /
factory buildings on the south (river) side of the street were derelict and empty, waiting to be pulled down. As I recall, these were largely the backs
of properties, without doors giving on to the street. There were still quite a few active shops further up towards the bridge, on the same side as Gandy's (north side), but across from the bus turning points on the river side, some fairly 'posh', like Mounfield's Gents Outfitters (slogan in the window: 'If you want to get ahead, get a hat').

The 'clogger''s shop was in the narrower part of Mersey St, where there were intermittent small shops and nondescript small houses (it was all, I think, terraced). I used to go down Mersey Street to get the bus to the Grammar school from Bridge Foot regularly from 1954 onwards, but I don't recall ever seeing anybody go in or out of the properties in this part of the street, where the shop was located. The area was shabby and run-down, very much aware of its doomed status. Halfway along, on the corner of Academy St, there was a Spiritualist chapel, which we kids imagined to harbour ghosts. This link to the afterlife was very much in character with the posthumous nature of the rest of the street, all that was left of a once active community, now waiting for the end. 

My mother recalled that in the 1910s, when she was a girl, the triangle formed by the area between the bottom of Bridge St, Mersey St and Litton's Row was a Chinese quarter, where they were afraid to go, for fear of ending up in the cooking pot! (multicultural understanding was not very widespread in those days). I don't know if anyone else recalls anything about this aspect of the area.   Stan Smith