Benjamin Randell Harris | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 October 1781 Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1803 - 1814 |
| Rank | Rifleman |
| Unit | 66th Regiment of Foot 95th Rifles |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Military General Service Medal |
Benjamin Randell Harris (28 October 1781 – after 1848) 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 (1848), 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 in the 1830s by an officer who knew him, named Captain Henry Curling. Curling himself is the only source for this encounter. Curling later wrote that he kept the manuscript based on their conversation until 1848, when he succeeded in getting it published.