Catalogue description Colonial Office and predecessors: Bahamas, Original Correspondence

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Details of CO 23
Reference: CO 23
Title: Colonial Office and predecessors: Bahamas, Original Correspondence
Description:

This series contains original correspondence relating to the Bahamas. It is not chronologically uniform until quite late, e.g. volume 15 covers the years 1735-1805. Until 1848 it includes correspondence relating to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The correspondence consists of:-

  • Governor's dispatches, enclosing Acts and journals of the Assembly, Council Meetings, Resolutions of the Assembly and Council, petitions, trials in Vice-Admiralty Court and letters from private persons.
  • Letters from Andrew Symmer, Agent for Turks Island, enclosing Regulations, trade figures and accounts for the island.
  • Secretary of State to Governor - dispatches.

The dispatches and letters were sent in duplicate, sometimes triplicate, and especially in times of war, took a long time, going by way of Turks Island, New York or Jamaica, to get to London. By the time the Secretary of State received the dispatch and replied, his advice was often no longer needed. The Bahama Islands, poor, without natural resources, were neglected in the sphere of finance and defence. For these they were dependent upon the Treasury, Admiralty and War Office, which were already heavily committed to the French and American wars.

1760-1786 sees the rise of the Secretary of State and the decline of the Board of Trade. However there are many Board of Trade documents among the series, evidently sent to the Secretary and never returned by him. After 1782 no Board of Trade records are found in the Colonial Office group.
Date: 1696-1951
Arrangement:

The original list of this series was prepared by Mrs D G Saunders, archivist of the Bahamas.

Some of the bulkier enclosures were separated from their covering dispatches and bound in separate sub series.
Related material:

For later records of the Turks and Caicos Islands see CO 301

See also CO 318

For later records see CO 1031
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 899 files and volumes
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Publication note:

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, 1574-1739 (HMSO, 1860-1994; CDROM edition, Routledge, 2000)
Unpublished finding aids:

A list of officers for Bahama Islands is to be found in the paper version of the catalogue, held at the Public Record Office, Kew. For registers of correspondence after 1850 see CO 333; before 1850 see CO 326. See also indexed précis of correspondence in CO 714.

Administrative / biographical background:

From 1714 the Bahama Islands were a Crown Colony. Between 1799 and 1848 the Turks and Caicos Islands were a dependency of Bahamas.

  • Governor: The Governor represented the Royal prerogative, controlling administration, finance and judicial business.
  • Council: His chief instrument of power was the Council (usually ten members) nominated by himself. It acted as his advisory body, a Court of Chancery and Appeals and as the Upper House of the Legislature. It could initiate legislation.
  • Assembly The Assembly's job was to pass by-laws and ordinances for meeting immediate needs of the colony. The Governor had the sole right of convening, proroguing, and dissolving the Assembly. Bahamian Laws, styled Acts, had to have the Royal Assent and the Governor could veto laws which conflicted with English Statutes. In spite of this the Assembly could delay bills (e.g. Turks Island Regulations) and ever since the early eighteenth century the Assembly possessed real powers which expanded through the century. The Assembly did not accept, without a struggle, the validity of Colonial orders-in-Council, any member could initiate Bills except those dealing with financial matters or pertaining to private interest. Since the time of Woodes Rogers, the Governors had to rely on the Assembly to vote them their salaries, and although the Council claimed the right, money bills invariably originated in the Assembly. Another aspect of the Assembly power is seen in the appointment of an Agent (1760) to watch over its interest in London.

  • Fortification: Poverty, defencelessness, wrecking and privateering describe the Bahama Islands at this time. Since the late seventeenth century, every governor lamented the lack of fortification. In 1760 the two existing forts (Montague and Nassau) were in disrepair and the Assembly had no money to put it to rights. Governor Maxwell finally managed to reinforce the depleted garrison at New Providence, but they were not enough to fend off the Spaniards who attacked in May 1782, occupying New Providence for one year.
  • Andrew Symmer, Agent for Turks Island: Symmer saw that there was a possibility for lucrative gain in Turks Island, rich in Salt Ponds, and got himself appointed as Agent in 1766. He made his own regulations for the salt rakers, many of whom came from Bermuda each year for the season. The Governor curbed Symmer's power and a struggle ensued. The question was whether Turks Island was actually in the Bahama Island group and whether the Governor could legislate for Turks Island. While Symmer and the inhabitants at Turks Island refused to accept the Governor's Regulations, the Assembly refused to legislate for Turks Island until 1772, and there was no representative in the Assembly until 1799.
  • Montfort Browne and the American attack, 1776: Although warned by General Gage and Captain Andrew Shaw against the American rebels, Browne made no preparations. The rebels easily seized New Providence. John Gambier, Lieutenant-Governor, Samuel Gambier and others of the Council launched serious charges against Browne's misconduct and inaction, while Browne accused them of entertaining the rebels. Taken by the rebels, Browne spent over a year in America. He was finally recalled to face the charges and was not reinstated.

External affairs greatly influenced the events of the Bahama Islands. It was in time of war, especially during the Seven Years War (1756-1763) and the American War of Independence (1775-1783) that the Bahamians had a chance of doing well by privateering.

  • Samuel Gambier, Judge of Vice-Admiralty Court, Acting Governor (1758-1760): Samuel Gambier was accused of profiting through privateer interests. Removed from the Judgeship in 1760 and dismissed from the Council at the same time, he was later reinstated by Maxwell.
  • American Loyalists: Besides increasing trade and privateering, the American War of Independence, brought many refugees to the Bahama Islands from New York and St. Augustine. The most outspoken Loyalist was James Hepburn, an Attorney from St. Augustine. The effects of the Loyalists were felt in politics in new factional feelings; commercially exports increased; agriculture was given a new impetus with the cultivation of cotton; socially the Loyalists introduced the conception of plantation life and a new relationship of master and slave. While the white population doubled, the black population trebled.

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