Recollections of the Eventful Life of a Soldier

Deservedly well-known to historians, these are the recollections of a Scottish soldier whose military career stretched for some 21 years, from a private in Picton's Division in the Peninsula War to service as a recruiting officer for the East India Company in the Victorian Raj. This book covers the early part of the author's life and relates Donaldson's deprived Glasgow childhood, his enlistment in the army, and his experiences in Iberia. After leaving the army in 1814, he wrote up his recollections in 1817 while attempting to study medicine. Dire necessity - including the burden of supporting ten children - forced him to resume military life as a recruiting officer. Tragically, he died in 1830 of lung disease while studying anatomy in Paris, at the early age of just thirty-seven.