Harry White was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He attended the Indiana Academy, and was graduated from Princeton College in 1854. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in June 1855 and commenced practice in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He entered the Union Army as major of the Sixty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, on December 13, 1861. Mustered out February 22, 1865. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate during his military service and attended its sessions in the winter of 1862 to 1863. He was reelected to the State Senate and served from 1865 to 1874, being speaker at the close of the last term. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1872. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1872.