KEIGHLEY soldier Herbert Victor Booth escaped the fate of many of his Bradford Pals comrades at the Battle of the Somme.

Herbert was on a posting to India when thousands of British servicemen died at the famous conflict on the European killing grounds.

But death can strike anywhere, and the former Keighley Trade and Grammar School student drowned in a rafting accident while on pontoon duty.

Herbert was born in 1896 in Keighley, son of a commercial traveller, and studied at college on the Isle of Man following his Keighley schooldays.

In 1914, while working with his father John William Booth in the dress goods trade, Herbert joined the West Yorkshire Regiment’s Bradford Pals.

He went on to serve first as a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, then later joined the 3rd Dorsetshire Regiment. He was promoted from officer cadet to second lieutenant in 1915, and received the fateful posting to India.

A Men of Worth spokesman said: “It’s ironic that many of his former comrades in the Bradford Pals died in the battles of the Somme.

“He escaped to the relative safety of an Indian posting, only to drown in a tragic accident whilst on pontoon duty at Hyderabad.”