List of Governors of the Bahamas

This is a list of Governors of the Bahamas. The first English settlement in the Bahamas was on Eleuthera. In 1670, the king granted the Bahamas to the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, but the islands were left to themselves. The local pirates proclaimed a 'Privateers' Republic' with Edward Teach (Blackbeard) as chief magistrate in 1703. In 1717, the Bahamas became a British crown colony, and the pirates were driven out.

During the American War of Independence, the Bahamas were briefly occupied by both American and Spanish forces. In 1964, the Bahamas achieved self-governance, and, in 1973, full independence.

List [edit]

#	Governor	From	To
Governors of Eleuthera (1648–1657):
1	William Sayle	1648	1657
Proprietary Governors of the Bahama Islands (1670–1706):
2	Hugh Wentworth	1671	December 1671
3	John Wentworth	December 1671	1676
4	Charles Chillingworth	1676	1677
5	Roger Clarke	1677	1682
6	Richard Lilburne	1684	1684
British rule temporarily disrupted due to joint Spanish and French raid on Charlestown
7	Thomas Bridges	1687	1690
8	Cadwallader Jones	1690	1693
9	Nicholas Trott	1694	1696
10	Nicholas Webb	1697	1699
-	Read Elding (acting)	1699	1700
11	Elias Haskett	1700	1701
12	Ellis Lightfoot	1701	1705
13	Edward Birch	1706	1706
14	Thomas Walker	1706	1706
Privateer's Republic (1706–1718)
Royal Governors of the Bahama Islands (1706–1776)
15	Woodes Rogers	26 July 1718	1721
16	George Phenney	1721	1728
17	Woodes Rogers	August 1729	16 July 1732
-	Richard Thompson (acting)	1732	1733
18	Richard Fitzwilliams	November 1733	1740
19	John Tinker	1740	1758
-	John Gambier (acting)	1758	1760
20	William Shirley	1760	1768
21	Sir Thomas Shirley, 1st Baronet	28 November 1768	1774
22	Montfort Browne	1774	3 March 1776
Commandant of the Bahama Islands (during American occupation, 1776)
1	Samuel Nicholas	3 March 1776	17 March 1776
Royal Governors of the Bahama Islands(1776–1782)
-	John Gambier (acting)	17 March 1776	1778
22	Montfort Browne	1778	1779
23	John Robert Maxwell	1780	8 May 1782
Governors of Louisiana (during Spanish occupation)
1	Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez	8 May 1782	19 April 1783
Royal Governors of the Bahama Islands (1783–1969)
-	Andrew de Vau (acting)	1783	1783
23	John Robert Maxwell	1783	1784
24	James Edward Powell	1784	1786
-	John Brown (acting)	1786	1787
25	John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore	1787	1796
-	Robert Hunt (acting)	1796	14 February 1797
26	John Forbes	14 February 1797	June 1797
27	Lieutenant-General William Dowdeswell	20 November 1797	1801
28	John Halkett	1801	1804
28	Charles Cameron	8 May 1804	1820
30	Lewis Grant	1821	1829
31	Sir James Carmichael Smyth, 1st Baronet	1829	1833
32	Blayney Townley Balfour	1833	1835
33	William MacBean George Colebrooke	1835	1837
34	Sir Francis Cockburn	1837	1844
35	George Benvenuto Matthew	1844	1849
36	John Gregory	1849	1854
37	Sir Alexander Bannerman	1854	1857
38	Charles John Bayley	1857	1864
39	Rawson William Rawson	1864	1869
40	Sir James Walker	1869	1871
41	George Cumine Strahan KCMG	1871	1873
42	Sir John Pope Hennessy KCMG	1873	1874
43	Sir William Robinson	1874	1880
44	Jeremiah Thomas Fitzgerald Callaghan	1880	1881
45	Sir Charles Cameron Lees KCMG	1882	January 1884
46	Sir Henry Arthur Blake GCMG, DL	4 January 1884	1887
47	Sir Ambrose Shea KCMG	1887	1895
48	Sir William Frederick Haynes Smith	1895	1898
49	Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter	1898	1904
50	Sir William Grey-Wilson	29 November 1904	1912
51	Sir George Basil Haddon-Smith	29 October 1912	1914
52	Sir William Lamond Allardyce KCMG	15 June 1914	1920
53	Sir Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux KCMG, CB	8 December 1920	1926
54	Sir Charles William James Orr	15 March 1927	January 1932
55	Sir Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford	10 January 1932	1934
-	Sir Charles Cecil Farquharson Dundas (acting)	1934	1940
56	HRH The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor	18 August 1940	1945
57	Sir William Lindsay Murphy	28 July 1945	1950
58	Sir George Ritchie Sandford	5 January 1950	December 1950
59	Sir Robert Arthur Ross Neville	7 December 1950	1953
60	Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly	21 December 1953	1956
61	Sir Oswald Raynor Arthur	1 April 1957	1960
62	Sir Robert Stapeldon	18 July 1960	1964
63	Ralph Grey, Baron Grey of Naunton GCMG, GCVO, OBE, GCSt.J. P.C	3 June 1964	1968
64	Francis Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 8th Baron Thurlow KCMG	1 November 1968	1969
Governors of the Commonwealth of the Bahama Islands (1969–1973)
65	Francis Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 8th Baron Thurlow KCMG	1969	1972
66	Sir John Warburton Paul GCMG, OBE, MC	14 May 1972	10 July 1973
On the 10 July 1973 the Bahamas gained full independence from the United Kingdom and the Governor-General became the viceregal representative of the Bahamian Monarch