Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 592

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar W H Eyes Jnr.

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

189

27 February 1875

Peter Devereux
Bridget Carr

Peter Devereux
Bridget Carr
💍 1875/79

Batchelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Duties

23 yrs
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 years
6 months

The Roman Catholic Chapel, Lyttelton

75/150

27 February 1875

Rev. Francis Del Monte, R.C.

No	189
Date of Notice	27 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Devereux	Bridget Carr
	💍 1875/79
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Duties
Age	23 yrs	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel, Lyttelton
Folio	75/150
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Del Monte, R.C.

190

10 March 1875

John Smith
Marian Manson

John Smith
Marion Manson
💍 1875/3184

Batchelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
31

Head of Bays, Lyttelton
Head of Bay's

18 months
25 years

The Presbyterian Church, Lyttelton

75/7

10 March 1875

Rev. W. S McGowon, F.C.

No	190
Date of Notice	10 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Marian Manson
BDM Match (96%)	John Smith	Marion Manson
	💍 1875/3184
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Head of Bays, Lyttelton	Head of Bay's
Length of Residence	18 months	25 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Lyttelton
Folio	75/7
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S McGowon, F.C.

191

10 March 1875

William Michael Taylor
Eliza Green

William Michael Taylor
Eliza Green
💍 1875/3183

Batchelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Duties

20 yrs
18 yrs

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

17 years
18 years

The House of Mr Jno Green, Dublin St, Lyttelton

75/6

Bridget Green, Mother; John Green, Father

10 March 1875

Rev. W. S. McGowan, F.C.

No	191
Date of Notice	10 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Michael Taylor	Eliza Green
	💍 1875/3183
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Duties
Age	20 yrs	18 yrs
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	17 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr Jno Green, Dublin St, Lyttelton
Folio	75/6
Consent	Bridget Green, Mother; John Green, Father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. McGowan, F.C.

192

15 March 1875

Charles Horniblow
Mary Ann Carroll

Charles Horniblow
Mary Ann Carroll
💍 1875/574

Batchelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

24 yrs
21 yrs

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

11 months
about 20 years

The Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

75/674

15 March 1875

Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley, C of E

No	192
Date of Notice	15 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Horniblow	Mary Ann Carroll
	💍 1875/574
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	24 yrs	21 yrs
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	11 months	about 20 years
Marriage Place	The Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	75/674
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley, C of E

193

23 March 1875

Henry Ashford Featherstone
Matilda Pearce

Henry Ashford Featherstone
Matilda Pearce
💍 1875/575

Batchelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

24
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

5 years
5 months

The Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

75/675

23 March 1875

Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley, C of E

No	193
Date of Notice	23 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ashford Featherstone	Matilda Pearce
	💍 1875/575
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	5 years	5 months
Marriage Place	The Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	75/675
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley, C of E

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

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

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).