Diocese History
His Grace, The Most Rev'd Drexel Wellington Gomez
His Grace, The Most Rev'd Drexel Wellington Gomez
Lord Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate
of the Church of the West Indies &
Bishop of the Diocese Of Nassau & The Bahamas
(Including the Turks & Caicos Islands)
The Rt. Rev'd Gilbert Arthur Thompson
The Rt. Rev'd Gilbert Arthur Thompson
Bishop Suffragan of New Providence
The Diocese of The Bahamas

A Short History of The Diocese
The Bahamas is a country of 700 Islands and Cays (29 inhabited) laying south east of the Florida, USA.. Discovered by the Christopher Columbus in 1492, The Bahamas was populated by Indians who, unfortunately, were made slaves and eventually exterminated by the Spanish captors. The islands annexed to England by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1678. The Islands were occupied at one time or another by Americans, Spanish and English occupied and became a haven for pirating.
The Church of England was established by law upon the arrival of the colony's first Royal Governor, Woodes Rogers.
Other important dates in the history of Diocese are as follows:

  • 1824 - The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands were made a part of the new Diocese of Jamaica.
  • 1844 - The Bahamas was made an Archdeaconry by the Bishop of Jamaica (Rt. Rev'd Aubrey Spencer)
  • November 4, 1861 - The Bahamas diocese was created.
  • November 24, 1861 - Dr. Charles Caulfied was consecrated the first Bishop of the Bahamas.
  • May 1862 - The City of Nassau was created by letter patent.
  • June 17, 1862 - The Bishop receives the oath and alegiance from his priests in Christ Church Cathedral.
  • September 1862 - Bishop Caulfied dies suddenly from yellow fever.
  • June 1866 - The Church of England was disestablishd in the Bahamas.

After many years of estabishing its self and ministering to a varied congregation, the Diocese elected its first Bahamian Bishop to the see of Nassau and The Bahamas. Michael Hartley Eldon, was consecated Sufaragon Bishop of New Providence on June 24, 1971. He was enthroned as Diocesan Bishop on May 28, 1972.
Upon his retirement in 1997 the Diocese elected yet another son of the soil to eppiscopacy of the church in The Bahamas. The Rt. Rev'd Drexel Gomez, former Bishop of Barbados was elected Bishop of the Diocese. Bishop Gomez was elected Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the West Indies in 1998.
Archbishop Gomez was preceded in the See of Nassau and the Bahamas including The Turks and Caicos Islands by the following:

  • Charles Caulfield 1861 - 1862
  • Addington Robert Peel Venables 1864 - 1876
  • F.A.R.C. Cramer-Roberts 1878 - 1885
  • Edward Townson Churton 1886 - 1900
  • Henry Norris Churton 1902 - 1904
  • Wilfred Bird Hornby 1904 - 1918
  • Roscow Shedden 1919 - 1931
  • John Daugleish 1932 - 1942
  • Spence Burton, S.S.J.E. 1942 - 1961
  • Bernard Markham 1962 - 1972
  • Michael Eldon 1972- 1997
  • Drexel Gomez 1997 -