In the 18th century there was already a “dissenter” presence in the Bahamas. The Ref community considerably increased by the end of the century when the British colonists who had remained loyal to the British crown in the revolutionary war in the United States were forced to leave and a substantial number of Scottish Presb settled in the Bahamas in 1783. In l798 they formed the St. Andrew’s Society, and in 1810 the foundation stone of St. Andrew’s church was laid in Nassau. Close links with the state were severed through a parliamentary act in 1869. In 1966 an additional community was started in Freeport. Another important missionary effort was undertaken in 1995 in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. St. Andrew’s Church is an overseas congregation of the Church of Scotland.
