Governors-General List
Governors-General of the Bahamas
- Sir John Warburton Paul (10–31 July 1973) (acting)
- Sir Milo Butler (1 Aug 1973–22 January 1979)
- Sir Gerald Cash (22 January 1979–25 June 1988)
- Sir Henry Taylor (26 June 1988–1 January 1992)
- Sir Clifford Darling (2 January 1992–2 January 1995)
- Sir Orville Turnquest (3 January 1995–13 November 2001)
- Dame Ivy Dumont (13 November 2001– 30 November, 2005)
- Paul Adderley (1 December 2005 – 1 February 2006) (acting)
- Arthur Dion Hanna (1 February 2006 –14 April 2010)
- Sir Arthur Foulkes (14 April 2010 - 7 July 2014)
- Dame Marguerite Pindling (8 July 2014 0 present)
Click here to learn more about the role of a Governor General.
Governor General Role
Constitutional powers, functions and duties
The office of Governor-General is provided for by Chapter IV, Sections 32 to 37 of the Constitution. These state:
Establishment of office of Governor-General.
32.- There shall be a Governor-General of The Bahamas who shall be appointed by Her Majesty and shall hold office during Her Majesty's pleasure and who shall be Her Majesty's representative in The Bahamas.
Acting Governor-General.
33.-
1. Whenever the office of Governor-General is vacant of the holder of the office is absent from The Bahamas or is for any other reason unable to perform the functions of his office, those functions shall be performed-
a. by any person for the time being designated by her Majesty in that behalf who is in The Bahamas and able to perform those functions; or
b. at any time when there is no person in The Bahamas so designated and able to perform those functions, by the holder of the office of Chief Justice; or
c. at any time referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph when the office of Chief Justice is vacant or the holder thereof is absent from The Bahamas or is for any other reason unable to perform those functions, by the President of the Senate.
2. The holder of the office of Governor-General or any person designated under sub-paragraph 1.a. of this Article or by sub-paragraph (1)(b) of this Article shall not, for the purposes of this Article, be regarded as absent from The Bahamas or as unable to perform the function of the office of Governor-General at any time when there is a subsisting appointment of a deputy under Article 34 of this Constitution.
Deputy to Governor-General.
34.-
1. Whenever the Governor-General-
a. has occasion to be absent from The Bahamas for a period which he has reason to believe will be of short duration; or
b. is suffering from an illness that he has reason to believe will be of short duration, - he may, acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister, by instrument under the Public Seal, appoint any person in The Bahamas to be his deputy during such absence or illness and in that capacity to perform on his behalf such of the function of the office of Governor-General as may be specified in that instrument.
2. The power and authority of the Governor-General shall nor be abridged, altered or in any way affected by the appointment of a deputy under this Article, and in the exercise of any function that is exercisable by the Governor-General acting in accordance with his own deliberate judgment or after consultation with any person or authority a deputy shall conform to and observe any instructions that the Governor-General, acting in like manner, may address to him;
Provided that the question whether or not a deputy has conformed to or observed any such instruction shall not be inquired into in any court.
3. A person appointed as a deputy under this Article shall hold that appointment for such period as may be specified in the instrument by which he is appointed, and his appointment may be revoked at any time by the Governor-General acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.
Personal staff of Governor-General.
35.-
1. Parliament may prescribe the offices that are to constitute the personal staff of the Governor-General, the salaries and allowances that are to be paid in respect of the expenditure attaching to the office of Governor-General.
2. Any salaries or other sums prescribed under paragraph (1) of this Article are hereby charged on and shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund.
- Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4) of this Article, power to make appointments to the offices for the time being prescribed under paragraph (1) of this Article as offices that are to constitute the personal staff of the Governor-General, and to remove and to exercise disciplinary control over persons holding or acting in any such office, is hereby vested in the Governor-General acting in accordance with his own deliberate judgment.
3. The Governor-General, acting in accordance with his own deliberate judgment, may appoint to any of the offices prescribed under paragraph (1) of this Article such public officers as he may select from a list submitted by the Public Service Commission, but-
a. the provisions of paragraph (3) of this Article shall apply in relation to an officer so appointed as respects his service on the personal staff of the Governor-General but not as respects his service as a public officer;
b. an officer so appointed shall not during, continuance on the personal staff of the Governor-General, perform the functions of any public office; and
c. an officer so appointed may at any time be appointed by the Governor-General, if the Public Service Commission so recommend, to assume or resume the function of a public office and he shall thereupon vacate his office on the personal staff of the Governor-General, but the Governor-General may , in his own deliberate judgment, decline to release the officer for that appointment.
4. All offices prescribed under paragraph (1) of this Article as offices that are to constitute the personal staff of the Governor-General shall, for the purposes of Chapter VIII, be deemed to be public offices.
Public Seal.
36.- The Governor-General shall keep and use the Public Seal for sealing all things that shall pass the Public Seal.
Oaths to be taken by Governor-General.
37.- A person appointed to the office of Governor-General or assuming the functions of that office under Article 33 of this Constitution shall, before entering upon the duties of that office, take and subscribe the oath of allegiance and an oath for the due execution of the office of Governor-General in such form as is prescribed by any law in force in The Bahamas, such oaths being administered by the Chief Justice of such other Justice of the Supreme Court as may be designated by the Chief Justice.
Proprietary Governments
List of Heads of Government of the Bahamas
(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)
National Governance Time-lines
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An outline of The Bahamas rulership from the early days to now. |
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1648 |
First English settlement |
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1718 |
British crown colony |
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3 Mar 1776 - 17 Mar 1776 |
American occupation |
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8 May 1782 - 19 Apr 1783 |
Spanish occupation |
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1969 |
Commonwealth of the Bahama Islands |
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10 Jul 1973 |
Independence (Commonwealth of The Bahamas ) |
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Governors |
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1697 - 1700 |
Nicholas Webb |
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1700 - 1701 |
Elias Haskett |
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1701 - 1705 |
Ellis Lightfood |
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Jan 1706 - 1706 |
Edward Birch |
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1706 |
Thomas Walker |
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1706 - 1718 |
Pirate Rule: -Thomas Barrow -Benjamin Hornigold -Edward Teach “Blackbeard” |
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26 Jul 1718 - 1721 |
Woodes Rogers (1st time) |
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1721 -1728 |
George Phenney |
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Aug 1729 - 16 Jul 1732 |
Woodes Rogers (2nd time) |
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1732 - 1733 |
Richard Thompson (acting) |
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Nov 1733 -1740 |
Richard Fitzwilliams |
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1740 - 1758 |
John Tinker |
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1758 -1760 |
John Gambier (1st time) (acting) |
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1760 - 1768 |
William Shirley |
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28 Nov 1768 -1774 |
Thomas Shirley |
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1774 - 3 Mar 1776 |
Montfort Browne (1st time) |
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3 Mar 1776 - 17 Mar 1776 |
Samuel Nicholas |
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1776 -1778 |
John Gambier (2nd time) (acting) |
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1778 - 1779 |
Montfort Browne (2nd time) |
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1780 -1784 |
John Robert Maxwell (1782-83 Spanish prisoner) |
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8 May 1782 - 19 Apr 1783 |
Bernardo de Gálvez (Spanish commander) |
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1784 - 1786 |
James Edward Powell |
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1786 -1787 |
John Brown (acting) |
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1787 -1796 |
John Murray, Earl of Dunmore |
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1796 - 14 Feb 1797 |
Robert Hunt (acting) |
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14 Feb 1797 - Jun 1797 |
John Forbes |
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20 Nov 1797 -1801 |
William Dowdeswell |
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1801 – 1804 |
John Halkett |
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8 May 1804 -1820 |
Charles Cameron |
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1821 -1829 |
Lewis Grant |
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1829 - 1833 |
James Carmichael Smyth |
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1833 -1835 |
Blayney Townley Balfour |
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1835 -1837 |
William MacBean George Colebrooke |
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1837 -1844 |
Francis Cockburne |
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1844 -1849 |
George Benvenuto Mathew |
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1849 -1854 |
John Gregory |
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1854-1857 |
Sir Alexander Bannerman |
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1857 -1864 |
Charles John Bayley |
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1864 -1869 |
Rawson William Rawson |
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1869 -1871 |
Sir James Walker |
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1871 -1873 |
George Cumine Strahan |
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1873 -1874 |
Sir John Pope Hennessy |
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1874 -1880 |
William Robinson |
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1880 -1881 |
Jeremiah Thomas Fitzgerald Callaghan |
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1882 -Jan 1884 |
Charles Cameron Lees (from 1883, Sir Charles Cameron Lees |
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4 Jan 1884 – 1887 |
Sir Henry Arthur Blake |
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1887 – 1895 |
Sir Ambrose Shea |
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1895 -1898 |
Sir William Frederick Haynes Smith |
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1898 - 1904 |
Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter |
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29 Nov 1904 - 1912 |
Sir William Grey-Wilson |
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29 Oct 1912 -1914 |
Sir George Basil Haddon-Smith |
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15 Jun 1914 -1920 |
Sir William Lamond Allardyce |
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8 Dec 1920 -1926 |
Sir Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux |
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15 Mar 1927 -Jan 1932 |
Charles William James Orr (from 1928, Sir Charles William James Orr) |
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10 Jan 1932 -1934 |
Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford (from 1933, Sir Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford) |
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1934 - 1940 |
Charles Cecil Farquharson Dundas (from 1938, Sir Charles Cecil Farquharson Dundas) -acting to 1937 |
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18 Aug 1940 -1945 |
Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor |
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28 Jul 1945 – 1950 |
William Lindsay Murphy (from 1946, Sir William Lindsay Murphy) |
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5 Jan 1950 -Dec 1950 |
Sir George Ritchie Sandford |
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7 Dec 1950 -1953 |
Robert Arthur Ross Neville (from 1952, Sir Robert Arthur Ross Neville) |
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21 Dec 1953 – 1956 |
Thomas David Knox, Earl of Ranfurly |
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1 Apr 1957 -1960 |
Sir Oswald Raynor Arthur |
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18 Jul 1960 -1964 |
Sir Robert Stapledon |
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3 Jun 1964 -1968 |
Sir Ralph Francis Alnwick Grey |
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1 Nov 1968 -1972 |
Sir Francis Edward Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce (from 1971, Francis Edward Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, Baron Thurlow) |
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14 May 1972 - 10 Jul 1973 |
Sir John Warburton Paul |
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Governors-General (representing the British monarch as head of state) |
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10 Jul 1973 - 31 Jul 1973 |
Sir John Warburton Paul (acting) |
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1 Aug 1973 - 22 Jan 1979 |
Sir Milo Butler |
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22 Jan 1979 - 25 Jun 1988 |
Sir Gerald Cash -acting [for Butler from 2 Sep 1976] to 23 Sep 1979) |
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26 Jun 1988 - 1 Jan 1992 |
Sir Henry Taylor (acting to 28 Feb 1991) |
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2 Jan 1992 - 2 Jan 1995 |
Sir Clifford Darling |
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3 Jan 1995 - 13 Nov 2001 |
Sir Orville Alton Turnquest |
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13 Nov 2001 - 30 Nov 2005 |
Dame Ivy Dumont (f) (acting to 1 Jan 2002) |
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1 Dec 2005 - 1 Feb 2006 |
Paul Adderley (acting) |
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1 Feb 2006 - present |
Arthur Dion Hanna |
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Chief Minister |
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1955 - 7 Jan 1964 |
Sir Roland T. Symonette |
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Premiers |
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7 Jan 1964 -16 Jan 1967 |
Sir Roland T. Symonette |
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16 Jan 1967 - 1969 |
Lynden O. Pindling |
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Prime Ministers |
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1969 - 21 Aug 1992 |
Lynden O. Pindling (from 1 Jan 1983, Sir Lynden O. Pindling) |
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21 Aug 1992 - 3 May 2002 |
Hubert Ingraham |
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3 May 2002 - 2 May 2007 |
Perry Christie |
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4 May 2005 - 22 Jun 2005 |
Cynthia Pratt (f) (acting for Christie) |
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4 May 2007 - May 2012 |
Hubert Ingraham |
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May 2012 - Present |
Perry G. Christie |