Bishop of the Falkland Islands Stirling, a missionary from the Patagonian Missionary Society (renamed the South American Missionary Society in 1868) was consecrated in Westminster Abbey on 21 December 1869, as the first Bishop of the Falkland Islands. Stirling had episcopal jurisdiction over "the whole of South America with the exception of British Guiana". Stirling served the people of the Falkland Islands for 30 years, later becoming Canon of Wells Cathedral. Until well into the twentieth century, the Bishop of the Falkland Islands had episcopal authority over the whole of South America, until power shifted to the Bishop of Argentina. In 1982, the Argentinian episcopal
Geography of the Falkland Islands the islands were abandoned but within twenty years the British had re-established a settlement. In the 1851 census, the settlement's population was recorded as 287, increasing to 2,043 in 1901 and 2,563 in 2012. The main settlements in the islands are at Stanley which as of 2012 had a population of 2,121, and RAF Mount Pleasant, which in 2006 had a population of about 1,700. A further 351 people lived in ""Camp" (outside Stanley) − just over half in East Falkland, a third in West Falkland and the remainder on outlying islands. The principal settlements on East Falkland (excluding Stanley