Eric Harper

Who was Eric Harper?

Eric Tristram Harper was a New Zealand sportsman, who is most notable for playing rugby union for the New Zealand national rugby union team and in 1905 became one of the Original All Blacks when he toured Britain and Ireland with Dave Gallaher's team.

A keen athlete, Harper was a hurdler at national level, and also played cricket representing Canterbury. In 1918, while serving in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during World War I, he was killed in action in Jerusalem; becoming one of 11 New Zealand rugby internationals to die during the conflict.