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 409

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar Joseph Godfrey 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
226	10 December 1883	Thomas Lunn Eliza Lester	Thomas Lunn Eliza Lester 💍 1883/2711	Bachelor Widow	Groom	34 34	Wellington Wellington	4 months 15	Registrars office Wellington	83/2802		10 December 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
227	10 December 1883	Thomas William Kirk Edith Devine Callcott	Thomas William Kirk Edith Dixon Callcott 💍 1883/2926	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	27 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Mrs Callcott House Featherston Terrace	83/2849		10 December 1883	Revd. W. H. West
228	10 December 1883	James Burrow Thompson Mary Ann Helen Dalton	James Burrows Thompson Slany Ann Helen Dalton 💍 1883/2718	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	83/2495	William Dalton, Father	10 December 1883	Venble Archdeacon Stock
229	10 December 1883	John Havelock Williams Hannah Sharp	John Havelock Williams Hannah Sharp 💍 1883/2738	Bachelor Spinster	Whip Maker	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	Mr. Coe's House Arthur Street	83/2482		10 December 1883	Revd. A. J. Smith
230	11 December 1883	Charles Collins Ellen Galloway	Charles Collins Ellen Galloway 💍 1883/2778	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Mary's Cathedral	83/2842		11 December 1883	Revd. John McNamara
231	12 December 1883	George Kilsby Mary Bassett	George Kilsby Mary Bassett 💍 1884/334	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 27	Ohariu Ohariu	years years	St Joseph's Church Ohariu	84/315		12 December 1883	Revd. John McNamara
232	15 December 1883	Montagu Laing Mary Williamson	Bernardo Menghini Mary Williamson 💍 1883/2540	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	30 29	Wellington Karori	years years	St Peters Church	83/2493		15 December 1883	Venble Archdeacon Stock
233	15 December 1883	William Cloke Frances Jane Sowry	William Cloke Frances Jane Sowerby 💍 1883/2712	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	4 months years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/2803		15 December 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
234	17 December 1883	William St Clair Mary Lewis	William St Clair Mary Lewis 💍 1883/2713	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	32 27	Wellington Wellington	6 months 7 months	Registrars Office Wellington	83/2804		17 December 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
235	18 December 1883	John Evans Brown Jane Martin	John Evans Brown Jane Martin 💍 1883/2805	Widower Widow	Gentleman	56 43	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 year	St Peters Church	83/2494		18 December 1883	Venble Archdeacon Stock
236	18 December 1883	David Bruce Pelagia Isidora Rush		Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	31 23	Kaiwarra Taita	years years	St Peters Church Paulls Church Lower Hutt	83/2494		18 December 1883	Revd. Francis Yardin
237	19 December 1883	Francis Bennett Ann Robinson	Francis Bennett Ann Robinson 💍 1884/529	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	24 22	Johnsonville Wellington	6 months years	St Peters Church	84/294		19 December 1883	Venble 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).

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).