Henry Albert Harper (December 9, 1873 – December 6, 1901) was a Canadian journalist and civil servant. He may be best known as a friend of future Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Harper is commemorated by a statue on Parliament Hill after his death while trying to save someone from drowning.

Born to Henry and Margaret-Ann Harper in Cookstown, Ontario, Harper moved with his family to Barrie in 1880, where he graduated from Barrie Central Collegiate Institute eleven years later. He attended the University of Toronto, where he befriended Mackenzie King, who was a fellow student. After completing his Honours degree in political science in 1895, Harper became a journalist in London and Toronto, before eventually becoming the Ottawa correspondent for the Montreal Daily Herald.

left|thumb|160px|The statue of [[Sir Galahad in honour of Harper]]

In Ottawa, Harper shared an apartment with Mackenzie King, who was then leading the effort to establish the new Department of Labour under the government of Wilfrid Laurier. In 1900 Harper resigned from the Herald, to work for Mackenzie King as the assistant editor of the Labour Gazette, the Department's main publication.

On December 6, 1901, Harper was attending a skating party held on the frozen Ottawa River by the governor general, the Earl of Minto. Bessie Blairthe daughter of Andrew George Blairand Alex Creelman fell through a patch of weak ice. While Creelman pulled himself to safety, Harper dove into the river to save Blair, and both ultimately drowned. His last words were reportedly "What else can I do?", in reply to his companions who tried to dissuade him from a rescue attempt, while another telling says that he quoted Galahad's famous "If I lose myself, I save myself" before jumping into the water. Their bodies were recovered the following day and Harper was buried in Cookstown on December 9.

Mackenzie King was deeply affected by his friend's death, and arranged to become head of the government committee charged with finding some way to honour his sacrifice. Both Mackenzie King and Harper had been fond of Tennyson's Arthurian works, and Mackenzie King decided that Harper would be honoured by a statue of Sir Galahad outside the parliament buildings, with the quote cut into the stone base. Sculptor Ernest Wise Keyser was commissioned and the statue was unveiled in 1905.

Henry Harper is buried in the Harper family plot at the Old Presbyterian Cemetery at Wilson's Hill, located about two miles south of Cookstown. There is a memorial plaque to his memory in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Barrie, Ontario.

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File:Henry Harper plaque.jpg |The plaque on the Galahad statue

Image:Unveiling of the Henry A. Harper Memorial, Ottawa.jpg |Mackenzie King at the unveiling of the statue.

File:Harper rose.jpg |A rose left by a passerby

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References

  • Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online