Harold Birch was Edna Birch's husband and Lawrence White's lover. Harold married Edna Birch and together they raised Edna's sister Lily Butterfield's son Peter Birch as their own, as Lily was incapable of looking after Peter herself. Harold embarked on an affair with his friend Lawrence White, but when Edna discovered their affair, she phoned the police, as being gay was illegal at the time. Harold was released without charge as he was a respectable married man, but Lawrence was sent to prison. Harold told Edna that Lawrence had hung himself in his prison cell, which Edna believed until she met Lawrence in 2014.