Intentions to Marry, 1872

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840384, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 289

District of Napier Quarter ending Oct - Dec

No	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
363	4 October 1872	Richard Fenton Kate McNally	Richard Fenton Kate McNalty 💍 1872/7922	Bachelor Spinster	Sharebroker Nil	33 17	Hastings St, Napier	3 days 12 months	Episcopalian Church, Napier	712	Ellen McNally, Mother	6 October 1872	Rev. J. Townsend
364	8 October 1872	Sidney Griffths Brandon Catherine Balfour Cowie	Sidney Griffiths Brandon Catherine Balfour Cowie 💍 1872/7925	Widower Widow	Banker Nil	52 28	Napier	10 years 1 year	Residence of Dr Spencer, Napier	714		8 October 1872	Rev. J. Townsend
365	23 October 1872	Wm Arthur Beecroft Margaret Burns	William Arthur Beecroft Margaret Burns 💍 1872/7928	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Domestic	29 22	Napier	6 years 6 Months	Registrar's Office, Napier	715		23 October 1872	Rev. J. Townsend
366	24 October 1872	William Shee Caroline Carlsen	William Ritchie Caroline Worsley 💍 1873/5225 William George Terry Caroline Card 💍 1872/7805	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	30 22	Napier	18 mnths 6 Months	Episcopalian Church, Napier	716		24 October 1872	Rev. J. Townsend
367	2 November 1872	James Bottom Gilbert Henrietta Mary Sweetspen		Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer Domestic	21 21	Napier	1 year 4 years	Episcopalian Church, Napier	717		2 November 1872	Rev. J. Downman
368	7 November 1872	James McIntyre Ellen White	James McIntyre Hellen White 💍 1872/9038	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Domestic	34 35	Meanee	8 years 14 years	Residence of Mr. Rose, Napier	72300		7 November 1872	Rev. W. B. Redstone
369	7 November 1872	Edwd Attway Mann Elizabeth Horese	Edward Attaway Mann Elizabeth Howse 💍 1872/7916	Widower Widow	Painter Nil	29 47	Napier	5 years 10 years	Residence of Mrs. Horese, Napier	72112		7 November 1872	Rev. D. Sidey
370	11 November 1872	Wm. Stewart Buckle Alice Howell	William Stuart Baxter Alice Howell 💍 1872/7907	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Nil	26 19	Napier	14 years 13 years	Roman Catholic Church, Meeanee	72109		11 November 1872	Rev. Father Reignier
371	14 November 1872	Alfred Horace Budd Emily Shirley	Alfred Horace Badd Emily Shirley 💍 1872/7934	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Domestic	25 22	Napier	1 year 12 years	Episcopalian Church, Napier	72118		14 November 1872	Rev. J. Townsend

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

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).