OAKWORTH villagers, war veterans and civic leaders gathered on Sunday to pay belated tribute to a casualty of the First World War.

They assembled assembled at Oakworth Cemetery for the unveiling of a headstone in honour of Private Herbert Moore.

Pte Moore died in 1919, the year after the war ended, and until recently was not officially recognised as a casualty of war.

But research by Keighley’s Men of Worth project demonstrated his death came as a result of his time spent in the horrific conditions of trench warfare.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission accepted Pte Moore’s name on its official registers of war dead and provided the headstone.

The Men of Worth – a group of volunteer military historians – organised the dedication ceremony on Sunday to commemorate the soldier.

Invited guests included Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Joanne Dodds; the Deputy Lord Lieutenant, Richard Clough; and Keighley Mayor, Cllr Javaid Akhtar.

Men of Worth spokesman, Andy Wade, said the ceremony was also attended by about 30 of Pte Moore’s family.

He added: “It's been almost ten years since we found Herbert Moore was missing from the perpetual roll of honour and today's ceremony was the end result of an awful lot of work."

Jonathan Whitley, Herbert Moore’s great grandson, and his own son, Thomas, were among those who planted a poppy cross by the headstone.

Mr Whitley later said: “On behalf of all the family, we would like to thank you and every one involved for their time and hard work.

“The service was superb and a fitting tribute to Herbert.”

Keighley Community Transport provided a free minibus to transport veterans to the ceremony from the Royal British Legion in Keighley.

Also present on Sunday were relatives of Pte Sam Rainford, another Oakworth soldier who fought in First World War and is buried in the grave next to Pte Moore.

Pte Rainford died in 1921 of tuberculosis, but because his army records have not survived, the Men of Worth researchers cannot prove he died as a result of his war service.

Pte Moore, of Oakworth, joined the army in 1915 and served in the Machine Gun Corps. He was discharged from the army in 1918, the year the war ended, with kidney disease. He died of kidney failure the following year.

His illness was assessed as due to the effects of exposure in the trenches and classed as 'war attributable'.