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 591

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

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

182

15 January 1875

David Gebbie
Agnes Smith

David Gebrie
Agnes Smith
💍 1875/141

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockowner

36
17

Head of Bay's
Head of Bay's

30 years
10 years

At St Peter's Church of England, Governer's Bay

75/145

Matthew Smith, father

15 January 1875

Revd. Herbert E. East

No	182
Date of Notice	15 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gebbie	Agnes Smith
BDM Match (96%)	David Gebrie	Agnes Smith
	💍 1875/141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockowner
Age	36	17
Dwelling Place	Head of Bay's	Head of Bay's
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At St Peter's Church of England, Governer's Bay
Folio	75/145
Consent	Matthew Smith, father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. Herbert E. East

183

21 January 1875

Edward William Roper
Frances Trew

Edward William Roper
Frances Trew
💍 1875/131

Widower
Widow

Auctioneer
Dressmaker

49
43

Cashel Street Christchurch
Sumner

6 years
6 years

The House of Mr Mitchell, St Albans

75/136

21 January 1875

Revd. George Bond

No	183
Date of Notice	21 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Roper	Frances Trew
	💍 1875/131
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Auctioneer	Dressmaker
Age	49	43
Dwelling Place	Cashel Street Christchurch	Sumner
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr Mitchell, St Albans
Folio	75/136
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. George Bond

184

1 February 1875

James Wheatley
Mary Ellen Faull

James Wheatley
Mary Ellen Faull
💍 1875/187

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Dressmaker

29
17

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

2 years
about 6 years

The Presbyterian Church Lyttelton

75/118

Thomas Faull, father

1 February 1875

Revd. W. S. McGowan

No	184
Date of Notice	1 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wheatley	Mary Ellen Faull
	💍 1875/187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Dressmaker
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	2 years	about 6 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church Lyttelton
Folio	75/118
Consent	Thomas Faull, father
Date of Certificate	1 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. W. S. McGowan

185

13 February 1875

William Henderson
Florence Randall

William Henderson
Florence Randall
💍 1875/3182

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican
Servant

21
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

over 3 days
over 3 days

The House of Mrs. Jefferson Winchester St Lyttelton

75/5

13 February 1875

Revd. W. S. McGowan

No	185
Date of Notice	13 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henderson	Florence Randall
	💍 1875/3182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican	Servant
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	over 3 days	over 3 days
Marriage Place	The House of Mrs. Jefferson Winchester St Lyttelton
Folio	75/5
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. W. S. McGowan

186

20 February 1875

George Henry Pierce
Kate Allwright

George Henry Pierce
Kate Allwright
💍 1875/573

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

24
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

12 months
22 years

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

75/673

3 March 1875

Revd. Francis Knowles

No	186
Date of Notice	20 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Pierce	Kate Allwright
	💍 1875/573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	12 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	75/673
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. Francis Knowles

187

24 February 1875

William Hammond
Mary Ann Cushing

William Hammond
Mary Ann Cushing
💍 1875/531

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican

33
27

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

7 months
7 months

The House of Mr. W. Hammond, Oxford St, Lyttelton

75/654

24 February 1875

[PAGE TORN]

No	187
Date of Notice	24 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hammond	Mary Ann Cushing
	💍 1875/531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. W. Hammond, Oxford St, Lyttelton
Folio	75/654
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1875
Officiating Minister	[PAGE TORN]

188

25 February 1875

Patrick Grealy
Ellen Grealy

Patrick Grealy
Ellen Grealy
💍 1875/145

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

28
26

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

12 months
7 months

The Roman Catholic Chapel Lyttelton

75/149

25 February 1875

[PAGE TORN]

No	188
Date of Notice	25 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Grealy	Ellen Grealy
	💍 1875/145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	12 months	7 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel Lyttelton
Folio	75/149
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1875
Officiating Minister	[PAGE TORN]

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).