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Many war memorials appeared in British towns and cities after the South African War of 1899-1902 (known popularly as the Boer War), but most were constructed after the First World War, known to contemporaries as the Great War (1914-19). These were updated after the Second World War (1939-45), usually by adding a plaque with the names of those killed in that conflict. Almost every town and village in Britain has a memorial erected after the Great War, the commonest types taking the form of a cross, an obelisk or a statue of a soldier. Some occupy a prominent public space; others stand in the local cemetery or can be found inside the local church. Memorials usually commemorate the inhabitants of a particular locality, the former pupils of a school, or the members of a military unit or branch of the armed forces. Other memorials, often bronze plaques placed indoors, commemorate the employees of a private company or public institution.


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