HARPER, John
John Harper was born at Coddenham, Ipswich on 24 January 1827, and baptised at St Mary at Elms Church, Ipswich on 25 February 1827, son of John Harper (1803-21 March 1875), a coach driver, and his wife Mary née Denny, who married at St Matthew's Church, Ipswich on 9 July 1822. Young John married at Ipswich in 1855, Mary Ann Fenn (1830-1889) and in 1861, a 34-year-old saddler, living at 24 Orchard Street, Ipswich with his 29-year-old wife Mary Ann and their 5-year-old son John, who was born at Ipswich. By 1871 they had moved to 5 Priory Place, Ipswich when John is described at a 'leather salesman' and in 1881 a 'harness maker' living at 6 Falcon Street, Ipswich with his wife and two boarders. In 1867 he exhibited two oil paintings at the Needham Market Fine Arts & Industrial Exhibition, held in the Lecture Room at the Town Hall, which won a silver medal and a medal at the Ipswich Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition in 1868. John Harper was buried back at Coddenham on 31 December 1890.