BAHAMAS
See also ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY IN THE BAHAMAS 1848 - 1945
ANGLICAN CHURCH IN THE BAHAMAS
BRITISH COLONY OF THE BAHAMAS
The Bahama islands - formally subject to Spain since 1492 - were settled by English
colonists from Bermuda in 1626. (1)
The islands became an English dependency in 1647. They were first governed by the
Company of Eleutherian Adventurers and later, after 1670, by the Lords Proprietors
of Carolina.
By the end of the 17th century they had become a major center of piracy and it were
these activities which incited the British government to take over the islands in
1717 and to organize them as a crown colony.
(1) There were several Spanish attempts to reconquer the islands and it was
only in 1783, by the Treaty of Versailles, that they were formally ceded
to Great Britain.
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BRITISH ADMINISTRATORS
Governors
1844 - 1849 George Benvenuto Mathew 1807 - 1879
1849 - 1854 John Gregory
1854 - 1857 Sir Alexander Bannerman 1783 - 1864
1857 - 1864 Charles John Bayley 1... - 1873
1864 - 1869 Rawson William Rawson 1812 - 1899
1869 - 1871 Sir James Walker 1809 - 1885
1871 - 1873 George Cumine Strahan 1838 - 1889
1873 - 1874 Sir John Pope Hennessy 1834 - 1891
1874 - 1880 William Robinson 1836 - 1912
1880 - 1881 Jeremias Thomas Fitzgerald Callaghan 1830 - 1881
1882 - 1884 Sir Charles Cameron Lees 1831 - 1898
1884 - 1887 Sir (1883) Henry Arthur Blake 1840 - 1918
1887 - 1895 Sir Ambrose Shea 1816 - 1905
1895 - 1898 Sir William Frederick Haynes Smith 1839 - 1928
1898 - 1904 Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter 1848 - 1927
1904 - 1912 Sir William Grey-Wilson 1852 - 1926
1912 - 1914 Sir George Basil Haddon-Smith 1861 - 1931
1914 - 1920 Sir William Lamond Allardyce 1861 - 1930
1920 - 1926 Sir Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux 1870 - 1943
1927 - 1932 Sir (1928) Charles William James Orr 1870 - 1945
1932 - 1934 Sir (1933) Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford 1890 - 1969
1934 - 1940 Sir (1938) Charles Cecil Farquharson Dundas 1884 - 1956
1940 - 1945 Prince Edward Albert Christian Georges Andrew
Patrick David, Duke of Windsor (2) 1894 - 1972
(2) Former British King Edward VIII (in 1936).
ANGLICAN CHURCH IN THE BAHAMAS
The Anglican religion was introduced in the Bahamas after the English conquest in
1670.
The islands were subject to the diocese of London until 1824 when they became part
of the new diocese of Jamaica.
This situation lasted until 1861 when the Bahamas, the Turks and the Caicos Islands
were erected into a new diocese, which became part of the selfgoverning province of
the West Indies in 1883.
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HEADS OF THE COMMUNITY
Bishops
1861 - 1862 Charles Caufield
1862 - 1864 ...
1864 - 1876 Addington Robert Peel Venables 1827 - 1876
1876 - 1878 ...
1878 - 1885 F. Cramer-Roberts
1886 - 1900 Edward Townson
1902 - 1904 Henry Norris Churton
1904 - 1918 Wilfred Bird Hornby
1919 - 1931 Roscow Shedden
1932 - 1942 John Dauglish
1942 - 1961 Spence Burton
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