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 058

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30th September 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

18 August 1856

Laurence Danill
Isabella Dunscombe

Lawrence Danielle
Isabella Dunscombe
💍 1856/1322

Bachelor
Spinster

Grazier

21 years
20 years

Rangitikei at present, Wellington
Molesworth Street Wellington

1 month
about 6 weeks

Episcopalian Church known as "St Paul's", Thorndon Flat

19 August 1856

The Revd Arthur Baker M.A. and others

No	55
Date of Notice	18 August 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Danill	Isabella Dunscombe
BDM Match (91%)	Lawrence Danielle	Isabella Dunscombe
	💍 1856/1322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grazier
Age	21 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Rangitikei at present, Wellington	Molesworth Street Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	about 6 weeks
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as "St Paul's", Thorndon Flat
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1856
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Baker M.A. and others

20 August 1856

Felix Hingston
Esther King

Felix Hingston
Esther King
💍 1856/861

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic Servant

22 years
21 years

Mulgrove Street, Wellington
Te Aro Flat, Wellington

Upwards of 15 months
Upwards of 15 months

Private residence Mr George Scutching, Mulgrave Street

20 August 1856

The Revd Henry Green and others

No	56
Date of Notice	20 August 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Hingston	Esther King
	💍 1856/861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic Servant
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Mulgrove Street, Wellington	Te Aro Flat, Wellington
Length of Residence	Upwards of 15 months	Upwards of 15 months
Marriage Place	Private residence Mr George Scutching, Mulgrave Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1856
Officiating Minister	The Revd Henry Green and others

28 August 1856

George Ramsey
Margaret McKinnon

George Ramsay
Margaret McKinnon
💍 1856/1567

Widower
Spinster

Printer

25 years
21 years

Tory Street
Tory Street

Upwards of 10 years
Upwards of 18 months

Private residence of Mr James Muir, Ghuznee Street

28 August 1856

The Revd John Moir and others

No	57
Date of Notice	28 August 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ramsey	Margaret McKinnon
BDM Match (96%)	George Ramsay	Margaret McKinnon
	💍 1856/1567
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Tory Street	Tory Street
Length of Residence	Upwards of 10 years	Upwards of 18 months
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr James Muir, Ghuznee Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1856
Officiating Minister	The Revd John Moir and others

29 August 1856

James Sawyer
Myra Partridge

James Lawyer
Myra Partridge
💍 1856/1994

Bachelor
Spinster

Coxswain in H.M. Customs
Daughter of Thos Partridge of Wellington

31 years
18 years

Wellington Terrace
Wellington - near the Flagstaff

About 18 months
Upwards of 6 years

Episcopalian Church, Thorndon known as "St Paul's"

Not yet issued

No	58
Date of Notice	29 August 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sawyer	Myra Partridge
BDM Match (96%)	James Lawyer	Myra Partridge
	💍 1856/1994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coxswain in H.M. Customs	Daughter of Thos Partridge of Wellington
Age	31 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington Terrace	Wellington - near the Flagstaff
Length of Residence	About 18 months	Upwards of 6 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church, Thorndon known as "St Paul's"
Folio
Consent	Not yet issued
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

1 September 1856

William Peter Barber
Sophia Woouldom

William Peter Barber
Sophia Woouldom
💍 1856/1415

Bachelor
Spinster

Private in the 65th Regiment
Daughter of Henry William Woouldom, of Wellington

21 years & 3 months
19 years & 3 months

Mount Cook Barracks
With her Father in Willis Street

3 1/2 years
About 15 years

Episcopalian Church known as "St Peter's" situate in Willis Street

19 September 1856

The Revd Arthur Stock and others

No	59
Date of Notice	1 September 1856
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peter Barber	Sophia Woouldom
	💍 1856/1415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Private in the 65th Regiment	Daughter of Henry William Woouldom, of Wellington
Age	21 years & 3 months	19 years & 3 months
Dwelling Place	Mount Cook Barracks	With her Father in Willis Street
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	About 15 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as "St Peter's" situate in Willis Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1856
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock 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 1908. 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).