John Shipp ( British Army officer ) John Shipp ( March 1784 – 1834 ) was a British soldier and author best known for his memoirs which were popular and ran to at least four editions . Shipp began his military career as a drummer boy at the age of ten and twice won commissions from the ranks due to his ability and conduct ; he had to sell his first commission due to a lack of funds . He attained the rank of Lieutenant in the 87th Regiment . The Times reviewed the third edition of Shipp ' s memoir in 1890 where the work was listed as one of the " Books Of The Week " . The reviewer states that " for a man of little more than 30 to have twice won his commission from the ranks was . . . an achievement unique in the annals of the British army " . Early life . Shipp , younger son of Thomas Shipp , a marine , and his wife Lætitia , was born in Saxmundham , and was enchanted by the military from an early age . His mother died in poor circumstances in 1789 , his elder brother was lost at sea , and John became an inmate of the parish poorhouse ; he was apprenticed by the overseers to a neighbouring farmer , who repeatedly beat him and from whom he was glad to escape by enlistment as a boy in the 22nd ( Cheshire ) Regiment of Foot , at Colchester , on 17 January 1797 . Military career . Through the kindness of his captain he picked up some education , and , after service in the Channel Islands and the Cape , sailed for India , where , having risen to be a sergeant in the grenadier company , he served against the Mahrattas under Lord Lake ( Gerard Lake , first Viscount ) . He was one of the stormers at the capture of Deig on 24 December 1804 , and thrice led the forlorn hope of the storming column in the unsuccessful assaults on Bhurtpore ( January – February 1805 ) . He was severely wounded , but his daring was rewarded by Lord Lake with an ensigncy in the 65th foot . On 10 March in the same year he was gazetted lieutenant in the 76th foot . Returning home after two and a half years ' further service , he found himself constrained to sell out on 19 March 1808 in order to obtain a sum ( about £250 ) to pay his debts . After a short interval he found himself in London without money , and decided to again enlist in the ranks . He returned to India as a private in the 24th light dragoons , and rose by 1812 to the position of regimental sergeant - major . In May 1815 the Earl of Moira ( Francis Rawdon Hastings - first Marquis of Hastings and second Earl of Moira ) reappointed him to an ensigncy in the 87th Prince ' s own Irish fusiliers , then recently arrived in India from Mauritius . Shipp had thus performed the unique feat of twice winning a commission from the ranks before he was thirty - two . Shipp distinguished himself greatly by his bravery in the second campaign of the Ghoorka war , notably in a single combat with one of the enemy ' s sirdars near Muckwanpore . He was on the staff of the left division of the ‘ grand army ’ under the Marquis of Hastings in the Mahratta and Pindaree war ( 1817 – 18 ) , and was promoted lieutenant on 5 July 1821 . He seems to have been highly popular in his regiment for his gallantry in the field ; but during 1822 , while quartered at Calcutta , he was inveigled into a series of bets on horse races which proved highly disastrous . Shipp was imprudent enough to reflect in writing upon the behaviour of a superior officer in regard to these transactions , and was discharged from the service by a court - martial held at Fort William on 14 – 27 July 1823 . He was , however , recommended to mercy , ‘ in consideration of his past services and wounds , and the high character that he had borne as an officer and a gentleman . ’ On selling out , on 3 November 1825 , the East India Company granted him a pension of £50 , upon which he settled near Ealing in Middlesex . Later life . Shipp now turned his hand to relating some of his experiences in the " Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp " ( London , 1829 , duodecimo ; later editions , 1830 , 1840 , 1843 , and 1890 ) , a successful work and a curiosity in autobiography , in which the writer wisely abstained from any recriminations . Two years later he issued " Flogging and its Substitute : a Voice from the Ranks " , in the form of a letter to Sir Francis Burdett , being a powerful indictment of the detestable barbarities of the cat , which , as the author maintained , ‘ flogged one devil out and fifty devils in . ’ Burdett sent the writer a sum of £50 , and most of his suggestions were adopted by the military authorities . In 1830 Shipp was offered an inspectorship in the Stepney division of metropolitan police by Sir Charles Rowan ; he was shortly afterwards appointed superintendent of the night watch at Liverpool , and in 1833 was elected master of the workhouse at Liverpool , where he was highly esteemed . He died at Liverpool , in easy circumstances , on 27 February 1834 . Memoirs . Shipp ' s memoirs ( " Memoirs of the extraordinary military career of John Shipp , late a lieut . in His Majesty ' s 87th regiment " ) tell his life story from his youth , admiring the recruiting band , through his entire military career , and include extensive reflection as well as narrative . The volumes were reprinted several times over the succeeding century . Shipp ' s memoirs were first published c . 1827 , subsequent editions were revised by addition of material relating to his court martial , and in 1890 an introduction by Henry Manners Chichester who also selected illustrations and corrected the text . The 1930 edition is without the introduction and illustrations . Other works . Besides the works mentioned , Shipp published : He was also the author of two melodramas , ‘ The Shepherdess of Aranville , or Father and Daughter , ’ and ‘ The Maniac of the Pyrennees ’ ( Brentford , 1826 and 1829 ) . Family and portrait . Shipp was twice married , and left a widow with children . A whole - length portrait by Wageman , representing him leading his troop into the fort of Huttrass in 1817 , was engraved by Holl , and was reproduced for the ‘ Memoirs ’ ( 1890 ) ; ( see above ) another portrait was engraved by W . T . Fry after John Buchanan .