KEIGHLEY soldier Gilbert Hardy Midgley was classed as a deserter when he disappeared the day after arriving for training in Great Yarmouth.

But in reality he had drowned in the nearby River Yare while taking an unfamiliar route back to his base from the local YMCA.

Gunner Midgley’s cries for help as he fought the strong currents were heard by passers-by, but they could not find him in the river in the dark.

The brave young man, son of a Keighley alderman, did not make it to the frontline so he was never classed as an official member of the war dead.

But diligent research by amateur historians from Keighley’s Men of Worth Project has now corrected this oversight.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission spent 12 months reviewing the Project’s evidence about how Gilbert met his death, and this month gave a response.

Men of Worth spokesman Andy Wade said: “We are delighted that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has added Gilbert’s name to their Perpetual Roll of Honour.

“We would be grateful if any members of his family would contact us and we would be pleased to share our research with them.

“Gilbert is our third successful application after Private Herbert Moore and Private Ivor Tempest Greenwood, who have both had new CWGC headstones installed on their graves and we hope one day to see a new CWGC headstone on Gilbert’s grave in Utley Cemetery.”

The Men of Worth’s evidence included army records, a Police Gazette report, and an extensive Keighley News report in June 1916 of the inquest into Gilbert’s death.

The Royal Garrison Artillery recorded Gunner Midgley as a “deserter or absentee without leave” seven days after his death.

Gilbert, a commission weaver at Keighley company Midgley, Douglas and Company, had arrived in Great Yarmouth on March 23, 1916 to join the Royal Garrison Artillery.

The next day he went to the railway station to send his civilian clothing home, then went to the nearby YMCA rest room to write a long, cheerful letter to his parents. Shortly after nine o’clock he left the YMCA, and it is believed he took a wrong turning to the fish quay and fell in the river. One juror at the inquest said Gilbert had “died in the service of his country just as though he had fallen on the battlefield”.