The Diocese of the Windward Islands is comprised of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Saint Lucia.

     The formation of the Diocese of the Windward Islands occurred less than 50 years after the abolition of slavery. In 1876 an attempt was made by Britain to federate the smaller territories of the Eastern Caribbean. The idea of a federation was resisted by the Barbadian plantocracy, and the plans for a federation were shelved. Britain then proceeded to group St. Vincent, Grenada, and their dependencies along with Tobago into a group under the auspices of the Governor of the Windward Islands.

     This new political arrangement carried with it some ecclesiastical implications. The Diocese of Barbados, under whose jurisdiction the islands of the new government fell, was the established church of that island, with the stipends of clergy and other church expenses being met by the government of Barbados. Some of these benefits could have been extended to all the islands that were politically attached to Barbados. Now that these islands were being formed into an autonomous political unit, The Right Rev. Mitchinson, Bishop of Barbados, at the time, thought it best that the islands which comprised the new government be formed into a separate diocese. He advocated that the islands of St. Vincent, Grenada, and their dependencies, together with Tobago be formed into the Diocese of the Windward Islands. The church councils of the individual islands, as well as Provincial Synod, gave approval to Bishop Mitchinson's proposal.

     The islands were separated by Royal Warrant from the Diocese of the Barbados and formed into a separate diocese under the style of the Windward Islands. The instrument of separation which bears the seal of The Most Rev. Archibald Campbell, Archbishop of Canterbury, is dated November 8, 1877. In 1889 Tobago was placed politically with Trinidad and passed into that diocese. St. Lucia was incorporated into the Windward Islands in 1899.

     The Diocese of the Windward Islands shared a bishop with Barbados until 1927 at which time the original intention that the diocese should have its own bishop became a reality. A Synod the Windward Islands held the previous year expressed a strong opinion that the time had come when the diocese should stop sharing a bishop with Barbados and secure its own. 

 

The resolution passed by Synod read:

 

Whereas the Diocese of the Windward Islands has been administered from its inception by the Bishop of Barbados with permission of the Government of Barbados.

And whereas it appears from the records that it was the original intention from its inception that the said Diocese should be administered by its own Bishop so soon as provision therefore could be made financially.

And whereas at a meeting of the Synod the said Diocese held at the Cathedral in St. Vincent on the April 20, 1926, there was a unanimous expression of opinion brought about by the impending retirement of the present Bishop of Barbados that the time had arrived for making an effort for the carrying out of the original intention.

And whereas it is the desire of the said Synod that the Provincial Synod be humbly approached at the earliest opportunity with the view of obtaining sympathetic assistance and advice in the direction indicated, be it there resolved:

That the Synod places on record its grateful appreciation of past service rendered to the Diocese by the See and Government of Barbados, and humbly requests Provincial Synod to convey the gratitude, and in so doing, to endeavor to obtain some assurance, that should it be found impracticable either to make or to continue to make the necessary provisions for the maintenance of its own Bishop, the Bishop of Barbados for the time being will be placed with the permission of the Government of Barbados to resume the administration of the said diocese.

 

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     On March 19, 1927 the Synod of the Windward Islands, comprising of nine clergy and 14 laymen elected Bishop Alfred Berkeley, the retired Bishop of Barbados, as Bishop of the Windward Islands. Bishop Berkeley held the See in conjunction with the rectorship of St. George's Cathedral.

     The Diocese of the Windward Islands currently comprises Sixteen (16) Parishes, which are; St. George’s Cathedral, Holy Trinity, St. Paul’s, St. Phillip, St. Matthew, St. Patrick, St. James & St. Mary in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In St. Lucia there are; Holy Trinity (Castries) and Grace Church. In Grenada there are; St. George, St. David, St. John, St. Patrick, Christ-The-King and St. Andrew.

The last 50 years have seen the diocese going from strength to strength. During these years, some 34 persons from the diocese have offered themselves for the priesthood.