Rt.Rev. Addington Robert Peel VENABLES ⁵⁰⁸⁵

  General Notes:

Bishop of Nassau, Bahamas

The people in the Bahamas were not satisfied with the occasional visits of the Bishops from Jamaica added to which was dissatisfaction over the decision of Bishop Spencer in 1850, and Bahamians begun to see the need for a bishop of their own. In 1848, The Turks and Caicos Islands seceded from the Bahamas and later came under the jurisdiction of Jamaica, although remaining under the Archdeaconry of the Bahamas this matter was concluded 140 years ago on 4th November 1861. On that date, The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands were erected into a separate diocese. Dr. Charles Caulfield, the successor of Archdeacon Trew was consecrated the first Bishop of Nassau, In Lambeth Palace (The London Residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury). The new bishop arrived in Nassau in May, 1862 and Nassau by the same Letters Patent, became a city. The Letters Patent were proclaimed with much ceremony on the steps of the public buildings by the Provost Marshall, and were read in Christ Church Cathedral in the presence of a large number of parishioners and government officials. On 17th June, 1862, in the Cathedral, 6 priests took the oath of allegiance to their bishop, Unfortunately the first bishop of the diocese died prematurely in September 1862 of Yellow Fever. He was succeeded by Addington Robert Peel Venables (nephew of Sir Robert Peel).

Addington married Elizabeth Anne KING, daughter of Rev. William Moss KING and Elizabeth Margaret CODDINGTON. (Elizabeth Anne KING died in 1891.)