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 264

District of Wellington Quarter ending 28 February 1875

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

12 January 1875

Francis Bassett
Sarah Parkins

Francis Bassett
Sarah Parkins
💍 1875/400

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25
15

Hutt
Hutt

25 years
12 years

75/443

James Hannah Maidment, mother

12 January 1875

Registrar of Marriages

No	8
Date of Notice	12 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Bassett	Sarah Parkins
	💍 1875/400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25	15
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Register Office Wellington
Folio	75/443
Consent	James Hannah Maidment, mother
Date of Certificate	12 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

12 January 1875

Charles Calder Robertson
Jane Macalister

Charles Calder Robertson
Jane Macalister
💍 1875/738

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

13 months
many years

House of R. Macalister, Hobson St.

75/599

26 January 1875

Rev. John Moir

No	9
Date of Notice	12 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Calder Robertson	Jane Macalister
	💍 1875/738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 months	many years
Marriage Place	House of R. Macalister, Hobson St.
Folio	75/599
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

13 January 1875

Walter Edward Gudgeon
Edith Maria Best

Walter Edward Gudgeon
Edith Maria Best
💍 1875/307

Bachelor
Spinster

Sub Inspector Armed Constabulary

33
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
many years

St. Pauls Church, Thorndon

75/342

15 January 1875

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	10
Date of Notice	13 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Gudgeon	Edith Maria Best
	💍 1875/307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sub Inspector Armed Constabulary
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	many years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Thorndon
Folio	75/342
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

13 January 1875

Henry Lipman Cohen
Jenny Severy

Henry Lipman Cohen
Jane Levy
💍 1875/663

Bachelor
Spinster

Pawnbroker

32
21

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
12 years

Jewish Synagogue, Wellington

75/191

2 April 1875

Rev. D. H. Isaacs (Heb)

No	11
Date of Notice	13 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lipman Cohen	Jenny Severy
BDM Match (75%)	Henry Lipman Cohen	Jane Levy
	💍 1875/663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pawnbroker
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Jewish Synagogue, Wellington
Folio	75/191
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Isaacs (Heb)

14 January 1875

Andrew Sampson
Mary Josephine Mulloy

Andrew Eyre Sampson
Mary Josephine Mulloy
💍 1875/404

Bachelor
Spinster

Government Messenger
Dressmaker

37
22

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
12 months

Registrars Office, Wellington

75/446

4 February 1875

Registrar of Marriages

No	12
Date of Notice	14 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Sampson	Mary Josephine Mulloy
BDM Match (87%)	Andrew Eyre Sampson	Mary Josephine Mulloy
	💍 1875/404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government Messenger	Dressmaker
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	75/446
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

15 January 1875

James Badland
Phoebe Barrow

James Badland
Phoebe Barron
💍 1875/149

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Servant

30
20

Wellington
Johnsonville

1 month
3 years

St. Peter's Church, Church of England, Johnsonville

75/130

Eleanor Bowler, mother

23 February 1875

Revd. J. A. Hewett

No	13
Date of Notice	15 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Badland	Phoebe Barrow
BDM Match (96%)	James Badland	Phoebe Barron
	💍 1875/149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Servant
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Church of England, Johnsonville
Folio	75/130
Consent	Eleanor Bowler, mother
Date of Certificate	23 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. A. Hewett

15 January 1875

James Gordon
Elizabeth Craig

James Gordon
Elizabeth Craig
💍 1875/401

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

21
16

Wellington
Wellington

17 months
9 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

75/444

Jane Craig, mother

15 January 1875

Registrar of Marriages

No	14
Date of Notice	15 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gordon	Elizabeth Craig
	💍 1875/401
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	75/444
Consent	Jane Craig, mother
Date of Certificate	15 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).