TRIBUTES have been paid to a First World War hero from Aber­ystwyth who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Cyril Thomas Morris Davies was born the youngest of three brothers in 1885 at Ffosrhydgaled, Llanfarian, and at the age of 29 volunteered for service as a Private with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in September 1914, soon after the start of the First World War.

More than a million people were wounded or killed during the four and a half months of the Battle of the Somme, making it one of the bloodiest in history.

Speaking to the Cambrian News this week, Cyril’s cousin, Peter Davies, paid tribute to a relative he never had the pleasure of meeting because he was killed on 1 July 1916, the first day of the monumental battle.