Career
Born in Sheerness, Ted played in Kent junior football and for Whitstable Town and Sheppey United before joining Blackburn in 1923. He also set club records by scoring 36 goals for Tottenham Hotspur in 1930-1931 and later scoring 37 goals in a season for Preston North End in Division Two in the 1932-1933 season, which still stands as the club goal scoring record. He played for Blackburn Rovers (1923–1927 and 1933–1934), Sheffield Wednesday (1927–1929), Tottenham Hotspur (1929–1931) and Preston North End (1931–1933) in the Football League.
He was signed for Spurs from Sheffield Wednesday in March 1929 for a fee of £5,500, breaking the club record which had been created only a few weeks earlier when Baden Herod was signed for £4,000 from Brentford.
Harper took on a coaching role at Blackburn following his retirement at 33.