When municipal graveyards began to overfill Ware began negotiations with various local authorities to acquire land for further cemeteries . Ware began with an agreement with France to build joint British and French cemeteries under the understanding that these would be maintained by the French government . Ware eventually concluded that it was not prudent to leave the maintenance responsibilities solely to the French government and subsequently arranged for France to purchase the land , grant it in perpetuity , and leave the management and maintenance responsibilities to the British . The French government agreed under the condition that cemeteries respected certain dimensions , were accessible by public road , were in the vicinity of medical aid stations and were not too close to towns or villages . Similar negotiations were started with the Belgian government .