Randolph Harper

Original information:
Randolph G. Harper was born on board ship. All four Harpers on the Randolph are in the photo. John (1824-1916) and Elizabeth (1828-1916) came from Norfolk. Elijah was an infant on board. At first they lived in a “hole in the bank of the river’’ − probably a cave in the clay cliff − then they built a house of wattle and daub.

John had a line of horse-drawn buses for eight years, charging sixpence to go down Ferry Road. He owned a brick stable near the Heathcote wharf, until the completion of the Lyttelton tunnel put him out of business. Later he extended his service to Sumner, until the trams started. Then he worked on farms.
John and Elizabeth had a family of nine, and 170 descendants joined the couple, then in their 80s, for a family reunion at Wainoni about 1911.

Randolph George (1850-1937) lived on Ferry Road near Lancaster Park (now Jade Stadium). He worked in the Woolston Tannery and then in a brickworks.