Henry Sleeper Harper (11 March 1864 - 1 March 1944) was a passenger on the RMS Titanic when it sank on April 15, 1912.[1]
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The son of Joseph Wesley Harper, Jr. (1839–1896) and Abigail Payson Sleeper (1829–1866), Henry was a director of the Harper & Brothers Publishing House. Henry's father had founded the firm of Harper & Brothers, which gave way in 1900 to the publishing house. Henry Harper was a graduate of Columbia University and a member of the University and Century Clubs. He was married to Myra Haxton in 1888. They had no children. After Myra’s death on November 27, 1923, he remarried to Anne W. Hopson, and they had a son, Henry.
Henry and his wife Myra boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg . They occupied First class suite D33 , accompanying the Harpers was Hammad Hassu ( an Egyptian Dragon Man that Henry had bought in Egypt as a joke ) and Henry's prized pekinese dog Sun Yat Sen . On the night of the sinking Henry and Myra were having dinner they were then told to go back to there cabin get dressed warmly put on their lifebelts and go up to the boat deck . Henry put on a overcoat over his dinner tuxedo and Myra put on a black fur coat over her sparkly dinner dress and grabbed a pair of gloves , a fur muff , and her mother's pearl necklace that she had given her . Then the wealthy couple boarded lifeboat 3 along with Henry's Dragon man and Sun Yat Sen . Both survived the sinking .
Information obtained from the Historical New York Times archives.