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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. ==Early life== Benjamin Harris is vague about his origins in his text, but investigations by Eileen Hathaway 〔Who has published the most recent and authoritative version of this text under the title of ''A Dorset Rifleman'' ISBN 0-9522782-2-7〕 have revealed that he was born in Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire to Robert and Elizabeth Harris around the 28 October 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. In that year he was drafted into the 66th Regiment of Foot somewhat against his will, and forcibly marched to Winchester, where he underwent training in preparation for deployment against the French as the Peace of Amiens was drawing to a close. It was whilst stationed there that he was randomly selected as part of a firing squad to execute a deserter, an action which he reports "for many years afterwards remained deeply impressed on my mind".〔P. 17, ''A Dorset Rifleman''〕 Shortly afterwards he was despatched as a garrison force to Ireland, and served duty in Cork and in Dublin, where he met and joined a newly formed regiment, the 95th Regiment of Foot, the now famous green-jacketed riflemen. From Ireland, Harris was returned to England following a period with a recruiting party, and rapidly settled into regimental life, learning to become a cobbler in addition to his regular duties, by which means he made a substantial amount of money which later enabled him to afford medical treatment which saved his life. Harris' first experience of military service came in 1807, when he participated in the brief land campaign which accompanied the Bombardment of Copenhagen. He saw action in the skirmish at Køge (which was also the first action of the Duke of Wellington following his return from India). Soon afterwards, he and his unit returned to England on captured Danish vessels. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Benjamin Randell Harris」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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