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 Wellingtons 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.

Benjamin Harris is vague about his origins in his text, but investigations by Eileen Hathaway have revealed that he was born in Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire to Robert and Elizabeth Harris around theOctober 1781. His family however were shepherds from Stalbridge in North Dorset, and it was here that Benjamin grew up, in a large family with whom he remained until 1803.

Source: Wikipedia