Everyone wanted to have a bust of a famous personality from the Anglo-Boer War. Though the available figures were all British, Canadians snapped them up, so that today these can still be found in homes across Canada, or turning up at auctions.

(These imitation marbles were called Parian.)

During the late nineteenth century, marble busts had only been affordable for the rich, made of Parian marble imported from the Greek island of Paros. In 1842 a technique was invented by pouring a clay mixture into a mould, which resulted in busts that were light-weight, hollow, and and looked as good as the solid marble ones but were far cheaper.

Most people wanted a bust of Queen Victoria, left, found in Ottawa, ON, to grace their parlour.

But liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone left whose administration had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Boers during the First Anglo-Boer War, in 1881, was a popular second choice.

When the Boer War broke out, British generals became favoured Parian subjects.

The most popular subject was "Bobs", Lord Roberts of Kandahar VC left and far left, who turned the early British defeats into seeming victory with his triumphant March to Pretoria.

His large 21 cm bust shows the stunning detail possible on Parian busts, which was superior to that found on true marble busts.

The 17 cm Parian bust of Lord Kitchener left, spent the last 100 years in a house in Chatham, ON, in the prized collection of an elderly lady.

The ruthless "K of Chaos" as he was known by officers and men alike, succeeded Lord Roberts as commander-in-chief in South Africa in 1900.

It was Kitchener who ordered the disastrous attack on Bloody Sunday at Paardeberg. It proved to be the bloodiest battle of the war and costliest to Canada since the War of 1812. Thirty-one Canadians died.

Kitchener would oversee the longest and most bitter part of the war.

Other heroic generals were honoured with busts.

Parians were most popular in the 22 cm size, though smaller ones were common.

Rare parians, indeed, are the gloriously huge ones like that of British populist and reform politician Richard Cobden far left. It came from an old estate in Simcoe, Ontario. Only the wealthiest could afford to display those in their homes.

Right, is the fabled British cavalry commander General John French, whose relentless pursuit of the Boers, resulted in him destroying more horses than any other cavalry commander in history.

French would be the British commander in chief during the opening year of World War 1, before he was replaced. Unfortunately, for hundreds of thousands of British soldiers, his successor was Douglas Haig, who had been French's Chief of Staff during the Boer War. Haig proved to be as ruthless with the lives of his men as his mentor had been with the lives of his horses.

Someone - a century ago - decided to give the base a faux wood look with a coat of paint.

Those who did not like their parians in their original white, could always have them painted, as one Canadian in Quebec did to the 1900 Lord Roberts far left. It is the same version of bust as the unpainted one top.

Someone else, in Ottawa, Ontario, did the same to the 1887 Golden Jubilee bust of Queen Victoria, left which is a painted version of her white parian, top.

Another alternative was the solid and heavier plaster of Paris bust, like the 23 cm one of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier right who insisted Canadian volunteers to South Africa would be sent, not as stuffing for holes in the British army, but organized as Canadian army units under Canadian officers.

But earthenware could be glorious like the specially carved bust left, by Royal Doulton's top sculptor, Leslie Harradine, set on a fine ceramic plinth.

Right, a bust for Everyman, a tiny earthenware of Princess Alexandra that would be the pride of the boudoir of the lowliest Victorian shop girl.

Spelter is light weight and is another name for the metal zinc. Many busts and statues were made out of spelter.

These three spelter busts are from a series of generals made during the Boer War.

Baden-Powell became a hero after holding out against a Boer siege on his little town of Mafeking. He would win immortality by founding the Boy Scout movement based on his southern African adventures.

General Gordon was the martyred hero of the British Empire, being killed by angry insurgent tribesmen at Khartoum in 1885, when he was trying to impose his British Christian military will on Muslim tribesmen, in their own homeland.

For the Rich and the Super-rich

Two of the most popular figures, for expensive busts, were leading British Victorian Prime Ministers, - and political adversaries - Liberal William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) left, and Conservative Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) right, whose solid bronze busts, on heavy glass bases, came from an old London, Ontario estate.

These busts date from c 1880 when their political conflicts were at their peak. Memorabilia items like these were commonly brought over to Canada from the British Isles by immigrants trying to maintain some psychological ties to their homeland and its main celebrities.

The busts are wonderfully patinated, and have residue in the cracks from Brasso probably applied, a century ago, by a maid who was ordered to make them shine before a party probably in an upper class mansion.

Even rarer busts are below crafted by Canada's leading sculptors, over a century ago.