Arthur Paul Harper

New Zealand lawyer, mountaineer, explorer, businessman, conservationist (1865–1955)

Arthur Paul Harper CBE (27 June 1865 – 30 May 1955) was a New Zealand lawyer, mountaineer, explorer, businessman and conservationist. Known simply as AP or APH, he was born at his parents' house in Armagh Street, Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1865.^[1]^[2]

He was the son of the MP and lawyer Leonard Harper; Bishop Henry Harper was his grandfather.^[1] He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1884.^[3] He was the inaugural secretary and treasurer of the New Zealand Alpine Club, which was founded in July 1891 in Christchurch.^[4]

In 1935, Harper was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.^[5] In 1950, he was awarded the Loder Cup.^[6] In the 1952 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the community.^[7] He died in Wellington in 1955, just a few weeks shy of his 90th birthday.^[1]

Selected publications

Harper, Arthur Paul (1896). Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand.^[8]
Southern Alps of New Zealand. 1923.
Memories of Mountains and Men. 1946.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Langton, Graham. "Arthur Paul Harper". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
^ "Birth". The Press. Vol. VII, no. 830. 28 June 1865. p. 2. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Harper, Arthur Paul" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
^ "Alpine Club". Lyttelton Times. Vol. LXXVI, no. 9478. 29 July 1891. p. 3. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
^ "Official jubilee medals". Evening Post. Vol. CXIX, no. 105. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
^ "All Loder Cup winners from 1929". www.doc.govt.nz. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
^ "No. 39423". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1951. pp. 41–43.
^ "Review: Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand by Arthur P. Harper". The Athenæum (3616): 217–218. 13 February 1897.