Leonard Harper (2 June 1837 – 27 October 1915) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand.

[2] In 1857, his father heard from Tainui, a Ngāi Tahu leader from Kaiapoi, that some Māori wanted to travel to the west coast of the South Island via their traditional route along the Hurunui and Taramakau rivers.

Tainui agreed that his son and two other Māori would lead Leonard Harper and Mr. Locke over the pass.

On 4 November 1857, Harper set off from Mr. Mason's station on the Waitohi River to cross the pass; the party included Locke and four Māori from Kaiapoi.

Once they reached the Taramakau, they encountered flooding and built a raft from flax stalks.

[21] The politician and farmer Charles Blakiston married his second sister, Mary Anna Harper (1832–1924).

Ellen Shephard Harper (1834–1916) was his third sister; she married the farmer Charles George Tripp.