The Graves of Some British Military Officers/Soldiers and Civilians Buried in the British Cemetery in Sharjah 1932–1972

  Britain was not interested in the Arab Gulf States during its high colonial era. After World War II, Britain shifted its policy and after withdrawing from India, Britain focused on the Arab Gulf States due to the huge oil reserves in its desert. Accordingly, British personnel came to Sharjah as part of the small aerodrome that was built there in 1932. With that came a church and a cemetery. This paper aims to identify the British officers and NCOs who were buried there and to determine whether they had created any controversy, particularly in Sharjah, which was and is considered a very conservative state. Furthermore, the present status of the cemetery is discussed. The paper relies on a field visit to the cemetery to read the information on the headstones as well as the records of the church that looks after it.