Harold was born around 1893 in Caistor, Lincolnshire. By 1911 the family was living in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Harold was 17 and a coal miner.  

He served in the Territorial Force for four years before the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted January 1915 into the 2nd Battalion The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire) Regiment and was sent to France six months later.  

The 2nd Battalion were stationed along the Western Front for much of the war. In July 1917 they were in the trenches in Lens, Pas-de-Calais in northern France. On 1st July Allied forces launched an offensive to capture German held positions west of Lens.  

Harold was reported missing and later presumed dead. It was later confirmed that he was killed in action.