Research Notes:

His birth date is estimated from the chronology of his father’s life. Bannister suggests that Harold “could only have been a boy in January 1066”, adding that “he was then a minor in the wardship of Queen Edith, widow of the Confessor and daughter of Earl Godwin”. Bannister does not cite the corresponding primary source, but this must be Domesday Book for Middlesex which states that "Harold the son of Earl Ralph, of whom Queen Edith had the custody together with the manor on the day on which King Edward was alive and dead" had held “Ebury” before the conquest. Freeman states that "Harold the son of Ralph" is named in Domesday in Gloucestershire, Worcester, Warwickshire and Middlesex. Domesday Book records that "Harold son of Earl Ralph holds Sudeley of the king. Ralph his father held it...[and] Toddington" in Gloucestershire; Droitwich in Worcestershire; Chilvers Cotton and Burton Dassett in Warwickshire.

Lord of Ewias, Herefordshire after 1086: Bannister comments that “exactly how or when Harold became possessed of this Ewias land it is not possible to explain”. The Historia sancti Petri Gloucestriæ records that "Haraldus dominus de Ewyas" donated "ecclesiam Sancti Michaelis, Diveles cum capella Sancti Nicholai de Castro, capellam Sancti Jacobi de Ewyas, capellam Sanctæ Kaenæ cum capella de Caneros…decimam annonæ suæ venationis suæ…ecclesiam de Foy…ecclesiam de Alyngetone et ecclesiam de Burnham" in 1100, confirmed by "Theobaldo Cantuarensi archiepiscopo tempore Hamelini abbatis" [abbot from 1148 to 1179]. "Haraldus de Ewyas" donated "ecclesiam Sancti Michaelis de Ewyas…decimam de domino castelli de Ewyas…" to Gloucester St Peter, confirmed by "Roberto herede meo", by undated charter, witnessed by "Rogerus, Johannes, Alexander et Willelmus filii mei…".

The name of Harold’s wife is not known. Bannister speculates that she was “Alveva uxor Heraldi”, holding lands in Buckinghamshire “near to the lands once held by Harold’s mother Gueth” in Domesday Book. He does not specify the land, but presumably it is "in Tyringham Acard holds of William", Domesday Book specifying that “this manor 5 thegns held: one of them Harold had 3 hides...and Æelfgifu wife of Harold 1½ hides as 1 manor”. As the latter part of the entry in question clearly relates to the pre-conquest holding, Bannister has misinterpreted the section and his speculation should be ignored. ¹