WITH ‘THE THIRTY-SECOND’ IN THE PENINSULAR AND OTHER CAMPAIGNS

Harry Ross-Lewin was an Anglo-Irish soldier who, after enlisting as an ensign served and rose in rank with the First Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry under Wellesley (later Wellington) in the Danish and Walcheren expeditions, and in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign. He was present at most of the Peninsular War’s major engagements, including the battles of Roleia, Vimiera, Salamanca, Orthes and Toulouse. He fought in the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo – where his battalion was in the heat of the action at La Haye Saine farm, and lost 545 men out of 674. Later, as Lieutenant-Governor, Ross-Lewin ruled in both the Channel and the Ionian islands. Commended by Wellington himself, and edited by John Wardell, these memoirs offer interesting descriptions and great individual insights into a British officer’s life during the Napoleonic Wars, and should appeal to all enthusiasts of that conflict.