serviceyears branch death_place death_date birth_place allegiance unit battles birth_date rank article_title name
1803 to 1814 british army unknown , possibly london unknown portsea , portsmouth , hampshire united kingdom united kingdom 95th rifles walcheren expedition , peninsular war 28 october 1781 rifleman benjamin randell harris
 benjamin randell harris
benjamin randell harris

benjamin randell harris was a british infantryman who served in the british army during the napoleonic wars .
he is most widely remembered today as the author of a memoir of his time in the army entitled `` the recollections of rifleman harris '' , which has been seen as giving a rare insight into the world of the enlisted man in wellington 's army .
most memoirs published after the war came from serving officers , and the experiences of ordinary soldiers were overlooked due to the illiteracy of so many people at that time .
harris himself was illiterate , his recollections were recorded for him at some stage in the middle of the 1830s by an officer who knew him , captain henry curling .
curling then kept the manuscript until 1848 , when he succeeded in getting it published .
