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 267

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar R.C. Hammerton

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

27 January 1875

William Cooper
Jessie Young
formerly Dykes

William Cooper
Jessie Young
💍 1875/737

Widower
Widow

Carter

41
33

Wellington
Karori

7 yrs
10 yrs

House of Rev. J. Moir

75/598

27 January 1875

Rev. John Moir

No	29
Date of Notice	27 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cooper	Jessie Young formerly Dykes
	💍 1875/737
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carter
Age	41	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	7 yrs	10 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Moir
Folio	75/598
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

1 February 1875

Andrew Gorrie
Annie Alexander

Andrew Gorrie
Annie Alexander
💍 1875/414

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
d. Ed. Alexander Whitemans Valley farmer

24
21

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

15 yrs
16 yrs

75/449

16 February 1875

R.C. Hammerton

No	30
Date of Notice	1 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Gorrie	Annie Alexander
	💍 1875/414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	d. Ed. Alexander Whitemans Valley farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	15 yrs	16 yrs
Marriage Place	Register Office Wellington
Folio	75/449
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1875
Officiating Minister	R.C. Hammerton

2 February 1875

James Hawkins
Elizabeth Scott

James Hawkins
Elizabeth Scott
💍 1875/3158

Widower
Spinster

Expressman
Servant

30
21

Wellington
Wellington

9 yrs
1 mo

House of Rev. J. Moir

75/600

2 February 1875

Rev. J. Moir

No	31
Date of Notice	2 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hawkins	Elizabeth Scott
	💍 1875/3158
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Expressman	Servant
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 yrs	1 mo
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Moir
Folio	75/600
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Moir

3 February 1875

George Coe
Amelia Archer

George Coe
Amelia Archer
💍 1875/151

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
d. Hy Archer, Wellington, Labourer

25
17

Wellington
Wellington

18 yrs
16 yrs

House of Henry Archer St. Hill Street

75/132

H. Archer Father

17 February 1875

Rev. R. Ward

No	32
Date of Notice	3 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Coe	Amelia Archer
	💍 1875/151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	d. Hy Archer, Wellington, Labourer
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 yrs	16 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Henry Archer St. Hill Street
Folio	75/132
Consent	H. Archer Father
Date of Certificate	17 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ward

3 February 1875

William Frederick McLaren
Miriam Smith

William Frederick McLaren
Miriam Smith
💍 1875/739

Bachelor
Spinster

Runholder

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 wks
1 mo

House of George Bould Tawa Flat

75/601

3 February 1875

Rev. John Moir

No	33
Date of Notice	3 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick McLaren	Miriam Smith
	💍 1875/739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Runholder
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 wks	1 mo
Marriage Place	House of George Bould Tawa Flat
Folio	75/601
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

4 February 1875

Oscar Maplesden
Ellen Keys

Oscar Maplesden
Ellen Keys
💍 1875/405

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Housemaid

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 mo
2 mo

Registrars Office Wellington

75/447

6 February 1875

Registrar of Marriages

No	34
Date of Notice	4 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Maplesden	Ellen Keys
	💍 1875/405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Housemaid
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 mo	2 mo
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	75/447
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

4 February 1875

Arthur Alexander Knight
Alice Sutcliffe

Arthur Alexander Knight
Alice Hannah Sutcliffe
💍 1875/3165

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

12 mo
20 yrs

St. Peters Church Te Aro

75/12

Robert Sutcliffe Father

4 February 1875

Ven. Archdeacon Stock

No	35
Date of Notice	4 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Alexander Knight	Alice Sutcliffe
BDM Match (84%)	Arthur Alexander Knight	Alice Hannah Sutcliffe
	💍 1875/3165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 mo	20 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Te Aro
Folio	75/12
Consent	Robert Sutcliffe Father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stock

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).