Sergeant William Lawrence's account of his life is an interesting addition to the memoirs of the Napoleonic period, not for the style and grace of the prose, as Lawrence was not a highly educated man, although highly observant. What is often missing from other memoirs of the period is that mostly, they are written by the officers, and with some notable exceptions do not give a feel for the way of life for the ranker and the N.C.O.. This autobiography goes some way to fill the gap in the record. Such instances as rations, the occasional pig of dubious provenance, “cyder”, footsore marches lacking boots, and floggings are juxtaposed with the battles and skirmishes. Lawrence served in the 40th regiment of foot, in both the Peninsular war and the Waterloo campaign, ascending from private to Sergeant. Describing the storming of Badajoz, the battles of Vittoria and Waterloo in his turn he was rightly proud of his achievements and the Waterloo medal he wore, he died in his native Dorset in 1867 leaving a descendant to publish this book. Text taken from 1886 edition, full and complete, includes 10 additional maps to illuminate the text. 1 – The Battle of Vimiero, 21st August 1808 2- Explanatory Sketch of the Campaign in Portugal August 1808 3- Battle of Talavera, 28th July 1809 4 – Operations on the Mondego and the Battle of Busaco 5 – The Lines of Torres Vedras 6 – Battle of Albuera, 16th May 1811 7 – The Siege of Badajoz – 1812 – Vol. IV 8 – Battle of Vittoria and Operations leading up to it. – Vol. V 9 – Battle of Orthez and Soult’s retreat to Aire. – Vol. VI 10- Map of the Battle of Waterloo, 18th June 1815. Author – William Lawrence [1791-1867]

This autobiography presents the memoirs of a soldier of Wellington's army called Sergeant William Lawrence. He served during Wellington's Peninsular campaigns, ultimately leading to the Waterloo battle. William Lawrence talks about his early life and the hardships that resulted in his joining. Lawrence does not focus only on the action he partook in but on the logistics. The book runs smoothly from one scenario to another and makes for a quick and delightful read.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The military memoirs of one who enlisted in the 40th Foot (later 1st Bn South Lancs) in 1804 and was eventually discharged in 1821.

The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence A Hero of the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns by William Lawrence Sergeant William Lawrence died at Studland in Dorsetshire in the year 1867, bequeathing the manuscript of the accompanying autobiography to the family one of whose members now submits it to the notice of the public. Circumstances, which perhaps may be too often interpreted as really meaning an unfortunate tendency to procrastination, have hitherto prevented it being put into shape with a view to publication: one thing after another has intervened, and the work has been passed on from hand to hand, until after these long years a final effort has been made, and the self-imposed task completed. The book is simply sent forth on its own merits in the hope that there are yet some, if not indeed many whose hearts are never weary of the tales of England's glory in the past, and seek to find in them reason why that glory should be perpetuated. Many an account have we already had of the victories of the Peninsula and Waterloo, and this but adds one more to the list: though perhaps it may be regarded in somewhat of a supplementary light, as treating of the campaigns neither from an entirely outside and soi-disant unprejudiced standpoint, nor with the advantages possessed by one who may have had access to the councils of the authorities, but as they were seen by one who came and went and did as he was told, and was as it were nothing more than a single factor in the great military machine that won our country those battles of which she has so much right to be proud. What criticisms of the conduct of the war our veteran occasionally does indulge in are of course chiefly founded on the camp gossip current at the time, and in reading them it must always be borne in mind that events at the moment of their happening often do not present the same appearance as when viewed from the calmer security of after years, and they must be judged accordingly. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence A Hero of the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns by William Lawrence Sergeant William Lawrence died at Studland in Dorsetshire in the year 1867, bequeathing the manuscript of the accompanying autobiography to the family one of whose members now submits it to the notice of the public. Circumstances, which perhaps may be too often interpreted as really meaning an unfortunate tendency to procrastination, have hitherto prevented it being put into shape with a view to publication: one thing after another has intervened, and the work has been passed on from hand to hand, until after these long years a final effort has been made, and the self-imposed task completed. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.