Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 397

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar J. G. Holdsworth

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
116	28 May 1883	John Reapath Jane Rowly	John Redpath Jane Rowley 💍 1883/1008	Bachelor Spinster	Railway official	36 20	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1082	Samuel Rowly, Father	28 May 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
117	29 May 1883	Florence O'Donovan Julia Sarah Ann Cecilia O'Conner	Florence O'Donovan Julia Sarah S C O'Connor 💍 1883/1317	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	28 24	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Marys Cathedral	83/1124		29 May 1883	Rev. John McNamara
118	29 May 1883	James McDowell Honora Mary Gleeson	James McDowell Hanora Mary Gleeson 💍 1883/17	Bachelor Widow	Draper	40 38	Wellington Wellington	years	Mr Gleeson's House Hay Street	83/1093		29 May 1883	Rev. John Muir
119	30 May 1883	Andrew Barry Annie Harrison	Andrew Barry Annie Harrison 💍 1883/1316	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	31 20	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Marys Cathedral	83/1123	George Harrison, Father	30 May 1883	Rev. J. McNamara
120	31 May 1883	Joseph James Hebbend Amelia Eliza Jane	Joseph James Hebbend Amelia Eliza Moore 💍 1883/1310	Widower Spinster	Butcher	28 22	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years	Christ Church Taita	83/1109		31 May 1883	Rev. T. Fancourt
121	31 May 1883	James Harvey Kate Haynes	James Harvey Kate Haynes 💍 1883/1009	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	26 19	South South	years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1083	William Haynes, Father	31 May 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
122	1 June 1883	John Gendal Edith Rayment	John Gendall Edith Raymond 💍 1883/16	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	22 18	Wellington Wellington	13 months 1 month	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1084	Agnes Rayment, Mother	1 June 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
123	4 June 1883	John Ricketts Emma King	John Ricketts Emma King 💍 1883/27	Bachelor Widow	Labour	40 36	Wellington Wellington	2 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1085		4 June 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
124	5 June 1883	Leonard Brownlow Horrock Alice Brown	Leonard Brownlow Horrocks Alice Brown 💍 1883/2613	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	32 20	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Pauls Cathedral	83/2544	William Robert Brown, Father; Edward Brown, Father	5 June 1883	Rev. R. J. Thorpe
125	5 June 1883	George Arthur Bridland Lavinia Boulcott	George Arthur Cridland Lavinia Boulcott 💍 1883/1321	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 26	Taita Taita	years	Christ Church Taita	83/1110		5 June 1883	Rev. T. Fancourt
126	5 June 1883	James Trevithick Augusta Lavinia Clement	James Trevithick Augusta Lavinia Clement 💍 1883/34	Bachelor Spinster	Brush maker	23 21	Wellington Wellington	2 years years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1086		5 June 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
127	8 June 1883	William Samuel Gawith Ellen Mary Donnelly	William Samuel Gawith Ellen Mary Donnelly 💍 1883/35	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 19	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1087	William Samuel Gawith, Father; Margaret Hogan, Mother	8 June 1883	J. G. Holdsworth

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 1899. 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).