Leonard Harper

Leonard Harper (2 June 1837 – 27 October 1915) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand. Early life Harper was born in 1837, either in Eton or Stratfield Mortimer in Berkshire, England. His father was Henry Harper, who became the first bishop of Christchurch. Leonard Harper and his brother Charles (1838–1920) came to New Zealand with Bishop George Selwyn, who returned from a visit to England on the Sir George Seymour, landing in Auckland on 5 July 1855. In May 1857, Harper was elected clerk of the Canterbury Provincial Council. His father, Bishop Harper, arrived in Christchurch at the end of 1856. In 1857, his father heard from Tainui, a Ngāi Tahu leader from Kaiapoi, that some Māori wanted to travel to the West Coast via their traditional route along the Hurunui and Taramakau rivers. Tainui agreed that his son and two other Māori would lead Leonard Harper and Mr. Locke over the pass. While Edward Dobson had been over the pass only weeks before Harper, Dobson was stopped by bad weather. Harper descended to the coast and was thus the first European who had crossed the Southern Alps all the way from east coast to west coast. The pass has since been known as Harper Pass. Political career