Henry John Chitty Harper (28 December 1893) was an Anglican bishop in the second half of the 19th century.Project Canterbury
Life Henry John Chitty Harper was born in c. 1804 in Gosport, Hampshire, England,1841 England Census, census, from Ancestry.com, 1841 England Census, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1472314:8978. 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 electedProceedings of the Fourth General Synod of the Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland in New Zealand (p. 38, online at the Kinder Library) and upon receiving in July 1869 notice of Selwyn's resignation,Proceedings of the Fifth General Synod of the Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland (p. 12, online at the Kinder Library; see also the relevant statute) he became Primate of New Zealand; he resigned the Primacy on 5 September 1889The dictionary of New Zealand biography: volume two, 1870–1900. Claudia Orange (ed.). Wellington, Bridget Williams Books, 1993. and his See on 31 March 1890, in ill-health.”The Clergy List” London, Hamilton & Co 1889 He died on 28 December 1893The Times, Friday, Dec 29, 1893; pg. 8; Issue 34147; col C Obituary Rt Rev. Henry John Chitty Harper 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 .
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