SIXTEEN life-size soldier statues will be erected across Southampton to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

The cast iron figures will appear in parks, open spaces and on roundabouts across the city and will remain there until December.

Civic chiefs have purchased the statues from the Royal British Legion, who have created the 1.6 metre tall figures as part of their Silent Soldier Campaign.

The Silent Soldier silhouettes commemorate the 1.1 million British and Empire service men and women who died during the war – which ended in November 1918.

The figures also represent those who returned home, but whose lives would never be the same again.

Council leader Simon Letts said: “We are supporting the Royal British Legion by purchasing 16 of these statues, one for each ward of the city.

"It will be a fitting reminder of those who lost their lives in the First World War.”

Cllr Letts added that the statues, costing £250 each, would be concreted into the ground in a bid to stop people from attempting to steal or vandalise them.

Sarah Ferris, community fundraiser, South Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said: “We hope it will encourage people in Southampton to remember the people who never came back.”

As part of the campaign, the Royal British Legion is inviting organisations, community groups and individuals to display their own Silent Soldier until December.

The charity say the Silent Soldier could be placed on roundabouts, in gardens, fields, on buildings and in the countryside.

The silhouette is supplied with both wall and ground fittings to ensure it stays put.

During the First World War, 7,580 officers and men were killed from the Hampshire Regiment.

The regiment formed a total of 32 battalions in the war and received 82 Battle Honours and three Victoria Crosses.

A further 2,094 officers and men were killed in the Second World War.

In 1992, the regiment was amalgamated with the Queen’s Regiment to form the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.