Henry Harper (bishop)

Life

Henry John Chitty Harper was born in c. 1804 in Gosport, Hampshire, England, to Tristram Harper and Mary Jellicoe Harper. Tristram Harper (father of Henry John Chitty Harper) was the great-grandson of John Strachey. Harper was baptised on 9 January 1804, educated at The Queen's College, Oxford and ordained in 1832. He was Chaplain of Eton College until December 1840 then Vicar of St Mary's, Stratfield Mortimer. In 1856 he was appointed to the episcopate as Bishop of Christchurch. Harper and his family arrived on 23 December 1856 in Lyttelton on the Egmont. At the 4th General Synod, 14 October 1868, he was elected and upon receiving in July 1869 notice of Selwyn's resignation, he became Primate of New Zealand; he resigned the Primacy on 5 September 1889 and his See on 31 March 1890, in ill-health. He died on 28 December 1893 and is buried at Barbadoes Street Cemetery.

Family

On 12 December 1829 at St Maurice, Winchester, Harper married Emily Wooldridge. They had 15 children. His eldest daughter, Emily Weddell Harper married the politician John Acland. Two of his other daughters married Charles Blakiston, son of Matthew Blakiston; and Charles George Tripp, a pioneering sheep farmer in New Zealand. A son, Leonard Harper, became a member of parliament, and Arthur Paul Harper was his grandson. Another son, Charles John Harper, owned various large farms and unsuccessfully stood for election to the House of Representatives in the electorate in .

References

References

1. [http://anglicanhistory.org/nz/hjcharper/ Project Canterbury]
2. ''1841 England Census'', census, from Ancestry.com, ''1841 England Census'', https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1472314:8978.
3. Brown, Colin. "Harper, Henry John Chitty".
4. Proceedings of the Fourth General Synod of the Branch of the [[United Church of England and Ireland]] in New Zealand ([https://kinderlibrary.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/5#idx504 p. 38], online at the Kinder Library)
5. Proceedings of the Fifth General Synod of the Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland ([https://kinderlibrary.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/6#idx683 p. 12], online at the Kinder Library; see also [https://kinderlibrary.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/5#idx560 the relevant statute])
6. ''The dictionary of New Zealand biography: volume two, 1870–1900.'' Claudia Orange (ed.). Wellington, Bridget Williams Books, 1993.
7. "Proceedings of the General Synod: 13th General Synod, 1895".
8. ”[[Clergy List. The Clergy List]]” London, Hamilton & Co 1889
9. [[The Times]], Friday, Dec 29, 1893; pg. 8; Issue 34147; col C ''Obituary Rt Rev. Henry John Chitty Harper''
10. Greenaway, Richard L. N.. (June 2007). "Barbadoes Street Cemetery Tour". [[Christchurch City Council]].
11. Langton, Graham. "Arthur Paul Harper".
12. Swarbrick, Nancy. (9 July 2013). "The sitting room at Malvern Hills, 1858". [[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]].
13. {{NZHPT. 310. Clayton Homestead. 6 February 2014
14. (19 June 1900). "The General Election, 1899". Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives.