CIVIC leaders in Brierley Hill are up in arms after discovering a priceless painting of a town war hero has gone missing.

The oil painting, depicting tragic Brockmoor WWI soldier Sergeant William Jordan rescuing a wounded comrade in May 1915, was painted by award-winning artist Francis Gibbons and for many years it was on display at Brierley Hill's old free library in Moor Street.

Former Dudley Council leader Tim Sunter, chairman of Brierley Hill Civic Society, photographed the piece in July 2013 as part of a Great War research project for the Brierley Hill blog but by September it had vanished from the maps cabinet at Brierley Hill Library and, despite repeated requests to locate it, the picture remains missing.

He said: “It is very sad that the picture now seems to be lost. Given the historical context of the painting it must be viewed as irreplaceable and therefore priceless."

Mr Sunter appealed to Dudley archivists to try and locate the picture in the anniversary year of the start of the Great War and he added: "It would be a tragedy if it were lost for future generations.”

But Dudley Council bosses admitted yesterday (Wednesday) that they now believe the picture may have been taken.

Councillor Hilary Bills, Dudley's cabinet member responsible for libraries, said the piece had been stored in the publicly accessible map cabinet in the library, as part of the local history collection, as it was never added to the borough's fine art collection.

She said: "We were saddened to discover the picture appears to have been stolen and we thank Mr Sunter for bringing its disappearance to our attention.

"We would urge anyone with information about its whereabouts to let us know as we would be only too happy to display it as part of our tribute to the 100th anniversary of the First World War at Dudley Museum and Art Gallery.”

Brierley Hill councillor Rachel Harris, however, said she finds it "incomprehensible" that the painting has gone missing and she added: "I'm really quite angry about it. This is a piece of Brierley Hill history; we should have been looking after it. I'm hoping it will turn up but I'm not holding my breath."

Sgt Jordan, who lived in Campbell Street, Brockmoor, served with the South Staffordshire Regiment and was promoted for distinguished conduct in the field and mentioned by Sir John French in his final dispatch before relinquishing his office of Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in 1915.

The brave former Brockmoor School student, however, was killed in action at the age of 40 - in France on September 25, 1915, on the opening day of the Battle of Loos.

Nearly two years later, in July 1917, Wordsley artist Francis Gibbons donated his painting honouring Sgt Jordan's battlefield heroics to Brierley Hill Council and it was decided it would be hung in the old library.

Just a year later - in October 1918 - Francis Gibbons, known as Frank, died at the age of 66 after a short bronchial illness which developed following his brother’s funeral.