Fort Charlotte, named after the Consort of King George 111, was conceived in uncertainty. The Governor, writing to the Secretary of State on December 21, 1787, reported that he:
“… had proposed erecting Works upon a Hill to the Westward (of Fort Nassau) which commands both this Town and the Harbour, but the accounts I have received from different quarters within these few days are such as makes me hope that by this time Peace may be established in Europe...
Two months later he wrote that having heard the Governors in the Windward Islands were fortifying and putting themselves in a state of defense, he thought it his duty to proceed with the erection of Fort Charlotte. The main portion of the fort was completed in 1789.
Fort Charlotte was dismantled in 1891, by order of the War Office, and Nassau was no longer considered fortified. The cannons were dismounted and a portion of the slides were broken off. However, during World War I a modern cannon was sent from England and mounted at the fort. It was removed after the Armistice.
Some of the guns in Fort Charlotte at present bear the date 1844, and others the date 1859. Guns having the latter date were evidently replacements.
The troops defending Nassau were frequently changed, but at the time of the completion of Fort Charlotte, the town was garrisoned by ten companies of the 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot. These troops were stationed in New Providence year round, and three of the companies were quartered in Fort Nassau. Barracks were subsequently erected for the whole garrison in Fort Nassau grounds at a cost of £,30,244.5.41/2, the expense borne by the Imperial Government.
Information courtesy of the Department of Archives
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Fort Charlotte
