Archbishop of the West Indies | |
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Primate | John Walder Dunlop Holder |
Territory | Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the North-Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands |
The Archbishop of the West Indies is the Anglican primate of the Province of the West Indies, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The West Indies became a self-governing province of the Church of England in 1883, when William Piercy Austin (who had been Bishop of Guyana since 1842) was appointed as the first Primate. The title was changed from Primate to Archbishop (and Primate) in 1897.
The title of Archbishop is invariably held concurrently with that of bishop of one of the eight dioceses of the province, and it is common for the most senior bishop in the province to be elected as archbishop.
The bishops within the Archbishop's province are from two "mainland" dioceses (Belize and Guyana) and six island dioceses.