Anglican Diocese of Belize

The Anglican Diocese of Belize was established in 1883. The current bishop is Philip Wright.

Established in 1883 as a member of the Church of the Province of the West Indies, the Diocese of Belize now comprises 31 churches spread throughout the country, and is engaged in missionary outreach on a national and international scale. In partnership with the government, it also operates 20 schools across the country of Belize.

In some sense, to understand the history of the Anglican Church in the midst of the history of Belize, one has to look back to the Indian tribes of the Moskito (or Mosquito) Shore in the mid-eighteenth century. After repeated appeals by Mr Peat, Rector of Jamestown, Jamaica, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) sent a succession of missionaries to work among the Indians. This started sometime after 1747 with Nathan Prince. Many of these missionaries did not fare well, succumbing to the harsh conditions and dying shortly after arrival in the region.

The Moskito Coast Mission received Robert Shaw in 1774. However, in 1776, due to illness and inability to bear the climate there, Shaw was forced to return to England – being replaced by William Standord. On his way from the Mosquito Coast, Shaw made a stop in the Belize settlement (the ‘Bay Settlement’) which then consisted of British buccaneers living on St George’s Caye, located a few miles offshore the mainland. Shaw stayed on to become the first chaplain of the Belize settlement.

Shaw's chaplaincy was interrupted by a Spanish invasion in 1779 from which Shaw escaped to the Moskito Shore. The public records make no mention of a permanent chaplain between the late 1780s and 1794, perhaps because of the unsettled times resulting from the territorial dispute between Mexico and England, including the Battle of St. George's Caye in September 1789, now celebrated on 10 September, annually. Ecclesiastical functions were carried out by the magistrates during this period.

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