1856 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840368, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 18 2024

Page 047

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1856

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

8 February 1856

George Bell
Frances Prince

George Bell
Frances Prince
💍 1856/2017

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

24
21

Manners Street Wellington
Thorndon Flat

14 years
14 years

Private residence of the Revd Wm Kirton, Wellington

8 February 1856

William Kirton and others

No	11
Date of Notice	8 February 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bell	Frances Prince
	💍 1856/2017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Manners Street Wellington	Thorndon Flat
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the Revd Wm Kirton, Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1856
Officiating Minister	William Kirton and others

13 February 1856

Henry Death
Eliza Ridler

Henry Death
Eliza Riddler
💍 1856/876

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

26
17

Hutt
with her Father at the Hutt

2 1/2 years
13 years

Episcopalian Church known as "St James" situate at the Hutt

18 February 1856

The Rev Thomas B. Hutton and others

No	12
Date of Notice	13 February 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Death	Eliza Ridler
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Death	Eliza Riddler
	💍 1856/876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Hutt	with her Father at the Hutt
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as "St James" situate at the Hutt
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1856
Officiating Minister	The Rev Thomas B. Hutton and others

18 February 1856

Thomas O'Boyle
Mary Gorman

Thomas O'Boyle
Mary O'Gorman
💍 1856/1376

Bachelor
Spinster

Corporal 65th Regiment

24
22

Mount Cook Barracks
Mount Cook Barracks

7 days
7 days

Roman Catholic Chapel known as St Marys, Te Aro, Wellington

4 March 1856

J. J. P. O'Reilly and others

No	13
Date of Notice	18 February 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas O'Boyle	Mary Gorman
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas O'Boyle	Mary O'Gorman
	💍 1856/1376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Corporal 65th Regiment
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Mount Cook Barracks	Mount Cook Barracks
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel known as St Marys, Te Aro, Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1856
Officiating Minister	J. J. P. O'Reilly and others

19 February 1856

Henry Yates
Agnes Bell Hugh

Henry Yates
Agnes Bell Haigh
💍 1856/1409

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
18

Molesworth Street Wellington
Molesworth Street Wellington

10 years
14 years

Private Residence of Mr John Sutherland, Molesworth Street

5 March 1856

The Rev John Moir and others

No	14
Date of Notice	19 February 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Yates	Agnes Bell Hugh
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Yates	Agnes Bell Haigh
	💍 1856/1409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Molesworth Street Wellington	Molesworth Street Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mr John Sutherland, Molesworth Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1856
Officiating Minister	The Rev John Moir and others

19 February 1856

Edward Brutton
Isabella Walker

Edward Boulton
Isabella Walker
💍 1856/2020

Bachelor
Spinster

Licensed Victualler

37
20

Pauhatanui
Porirua

16 years
14 years

Scotch Church Lambton Quay

19 February 1856

The Rev William Kirton and others

No	15
Date of Notice	19 February 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Brutton	Isabella Walker
BDM Match (93%)	Edward Boulton	Isabella Walker
	💍 1856/2020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Licensed Victualler
Age	37	20
Dwelling Place	Pauhatanui	Porirua
Length of Residence	16 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Scotch Church Lambton Quay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1856
Officiating Minister	The Rev William Kirton and others

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).