Colonial Secretary of the Bahamas explained

The Colonial Secretary of the Bahama Islands was the second highest official in the colony, usually appointed from Britain. The Colonial Secretary was a member of the Executive Council and frequently served as Acting Governor in the absence of the Governor.

In other colonies, the position was sometimes known as Chief Secretary. In the Bahamas, the Colonial Secretary was also known at one time as the Secretary of the Providence.^[1] One of the responsibilities of the Secretary of the Providence from 1764 to 1950 was keeper of the public records.

List of Colonial secretaries of the Bahamas

The following is an incomplete list of colonial secretaries of the Bahamas:

!Image!Colonial Secretary!Period in Office

	Charles R. Nesbitt	1838-1867^[2] ^[3]
	Charles Lempriere	1867-1868
	George Strahan	1868-1873^[4]
	John D'A Dumaresq	1873-1874
	Edward B. A. Taylor	1874^[5] ^[6]
	Sir Henry M Jackson	1890-1893
	Sir George Melville	1894-1895
	John Spencer-Churchill	1895-1905
	William Hart-Bennett	from abt 1911^[7] -1914^[8]
	Henry E. W. Grant	1918-1923
		1924-1929^[9]
	Sir Charles Dundas	1929-1934^[10] ^[11]
	Aubrey Kenneth Solomon	1939^[12]
	William L. Heape	1940-1943;
	D. G. Stewart	1944
	Charles Percival Bethel	1943-1955
	Fred A. Noad	1956^[13]
	Kenneth M. Walmsley	1956-1964^[14]

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2011 . About the Registrar General's Department . 27 May 2024 . Bahamas Government.
2. Book: Mackie, Colin . British Diplomats Directory . 2013 . Gulabin.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104239/http://www.gulabin.com/britishdiplomatsdirectory/pdf/britishdiplomatsdirectory.pdf . 2016-03-04 .
3. Book: Saunders, Gail . Race and class in the colonial Bahamas: 1880-1960 . University Press of Florida . 2016 . 978-0-8130-5155-0 . 1st . Gainesville, Florida . 70 . Another industry was the growing of the sisal plant introduced by the colonial secretary C. R. Nesbitt in 1845..
4. Book: The Almanac of Australia and official record (1882) . 1882 . George Robertson . 101 (Tasmania).
5. Book: Mackie, Colin . British Diplomats Directory . 2013 . Gulabin.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104239/http://www.gulabin.com/britishdiplomatsdirectory/pdf/britishdiplomatsdirectory.pdf . 2016-03-04 . TAYLOR, EDWARD B.A., C.M.G.: Colonial Secretary, Bahamas, 1874-1880.
6. News: Taylor . E. B. A. . 3 June 1885 . Government notice no 44 . The Nassau Guardian . 2 . E. B. A. Taylor, Colonial Secretary. Colonial Secretary's Office, Nassau, 20th May, 1885..
7. News: 12 September 1911 . Passenger Movements . 2 September 2024 . The Tribune newspaper . Nassau, Bahamas . Hon W-Hart Bennett, C. M. G., Colonial Secretary, returned this morning from England via New York..
8. News: 31 May 1914 . Wife of Bahamas Official: Mrs. W. Hart Bennett who was Lost, Prominent in Life there. . 27 May 2024 . New York Times.
9. Book: Saunders, Gail . Race and class in the colonial Bahamas: 1880-1960 . University Press of Florida . 2016 . 978-0-8130-5155-0 . 1st . Gainesville, Florida . 70 . Allan [sic] Burns, colonial secretary in the Bahamas during the mid- to late twenties....
10. News: 31 May 1937 . Former Secretary will be Governor . 27 May 2024 . Miami Herald . 5 . As colonial secretary here from April, 1929 to July, 1934, Dundas received $5,500 and a small house allowance. . Associated Press.
11. Book: Dundas, Charles Cecil Farquharson . African Crossroads . Macmillan & Co (London); St Martin's Press (New York) . 1955 . London and New York . v-vii, 1, 126.
12. Web site: 1939-01-01 . The Dominions Office and Colonial Office List for 1939 . 2024-05-23 . Trove Australia . 242 . en.
13. Book: Saunders, Gail . Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas, 1880-1960 . University Press of Florida . 2017 . 978-0-8130-5155-0 . Electronic . Gainesville, Florida . 255.
14. Web site: 2018-04-09 . Bahamas Colonial Secretary Charged with Indecent Assault on Jamaican Maid 1962 . 2024-05-27 . Bahamianology . en-US.