BAHAMA ISLANDS

A group of islands forming a division of the British West Indies. Governor John Tinkler was appointed Provincial Grand Master in 1752 and Brother James Bradford in 1759. Brother Tinkler had been made a Freemason in 1730. These few facts are all that can be found with reference to the introduction by the Moderns of Freemasonry to the Bahamas. Possibly uo further steps were taken.

A warrant was granted by the Ancient in 1785 for Lodge No. 228 but it was found to have ceased work when the registers were revised at the Union of 1814.

Another Lodge, No. 242, chartered at Nasau, New Providence existed longer but had disappeared when the lists were again revised in 1832.

The Masonic Province of the Bahamas originally comprised three Lodges chartered by the United Grand Lodge of England, Royal Victoria No. 649, Forth No. 930, and Britannia No. 1277. Brother J. F. Cooke was appointed the first Provincial Grand Master on November 7,1842, Of the Provincial Grand Lodge then formed.