History of the District of Bahamas and Turks
The District Grand Lodge of Bahamas and Turks was formed in 1981 after a sustained and concerted effort by a large group of Masons in the Bahamas and Turks to increase the number of Craft Lodges operating within these Islands, which had hitherto been under the direct administration of the United Grand Lodge of England.
Whereas for a number of years, there had been just two Lodges in the Bahamas and Turks – Royal Victoria Lodge No. 443, in Nassau, Bahamas, and Forth Lodge No. 647 in Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands, the twelve years from 1967 to 1979 saw five new Lodges formed: Lucayan Lodge No. 8188 in 1967 in Freeport, Bahamas, followed in 1977 by Lodge of Unity No. 8760 and Bahamas Installed Masters Lodge No.8764 in Nassau, Bahamas and in 1979, Arawak Lodge No. 8877 in Freeport, Bahamas and Coral Lodge No. 8888 in Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands. And so, as a result of much work and repeated representations to the United Grand Lodge of England, the District Grand Lodge of the Bahamas and Turks was inaugurated on 27 March 1981.
Since then the District has grown in strength and stature, by the addition of Carleton Lodge No. 9134 in 1984 in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas, in 1997 by Caicos Islands Lodge No. 9661 in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, in 2004 by Ernest Sidney Larkin Lodge of Research & Instruction No. 9776 in Freeport, Bahamas and in 2017 by Bahamas & Turks Tercentenary Lodge No. 9948 in Nassau, Bahamas and Yuma Lodge No. 9949 in Long Island, Bahamas, so completing the current total of twelve Member Lodges in the District meeting on the islands of Abaco, Grand Bahama, Grand Turk, Long Island, Providenciales, and New Providence.
All five District Grand Masters have been extremely assiduous, not only in their duties to the Member Lodges, but also in representing the District on the wider stage within the West Indies, in England, and other countries around the world.