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 398

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1883

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
128	8 June 1883	Albert Frederick Cockle Elizabeth Matilda Alderlade	Albert Frederick Corkill Elizabeth Matilda Alderslade 💍 1883/1012	Bachelor Spinster	Book	32 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Residence of Mrs Alderlade, Jersey Square	83/1063	Mother	8 June 1883	Rev. R. Bain
129	11 June 1883	John Griffiths Janet Halliand	John Griffiths Janet Haldane 💍 1883/2023	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 26	Petone Takaka	2 years years	House of Mr Halliand, Takaka, Nelson	83/1194		11 June 1883
130	11 June 1883	Frederick George Gammaway Hannah Custrance Corlier	Frederick George Gannaway Hannah Corliss 💍 1883/30	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	28 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	83/1105	Father	11 June 1883	Rev. P. Kerrigan
131	12 June 1883	Michael Fitz Gerald Norah Scanlon	Michael Fitzgerald Norah Scanlon 💍 1883/1318	Bachelor Spinster	Coal and Wood Dealer	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	83/1125		12 June 1883	Rev. John McNamara
132	13 June 1883	Walter Ward Middleton Jane Caroline Maitland	Walter Ward Middleton Jane Caroline Maitland 💍 1883/23	Bachelor Widow	Settler	28 29	Wellington Wellington	14 days 1 month	St. Peter's Church	83/1099		13 June 1883	Ven. the Arch Deacon Stock
133	18 June 1883	Ernest Edmund Edwards Hannah Morris Price	Ernest Edward Edmonds Hannah Morris Price 💍 1883/1013	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	24 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	83/1064	William Price, Father	18 June 1883	Rev. R. Bain
134	19 June 1883	James Jamieson Christina Ann Wieton	James Jamieson Christina Ann Wilton 💍 1883/1334	Widower Spinster	Clerk	29 22	Wellington Wades Town	years years	Church of England, Wades Town	83/1114		19 June 1883	Rev. J. Paterson
135	19 June 1883	John Loury Alice England	John Lowry Alice England 💍 1883/36	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 19	Petone Lower Hutt	2 months years	Registrars Office, Wellington	83/1088	Charles England, Father	19 June 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
136	26 June 1883	James Salmans Field Harriet Spicer	James Solmons Field Harriet Spicer 💍 1883/37	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 17	Ohariu Ohariu	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	83/1089	Richard Spicer, Father	26 June 1883	A. W. Smith, Deputy
137	26 June 1883	John Janson Barbara Sutherland	John Jansen Barbara Sutherland 💍 1883/1311	Bachelor Spinster	Woodturner	21 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. John's Church	83/1118	Barbara Sutherland, Mother	26 June 1883	Rev. J. Paterson
138	27 June 1883	Thomas Johnson Karen Hansen	Thomas Johnson Karen Hansen 💍 1883/1943	Widower Spinster	Printer	49 37	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom	83/1195		27 June 1883	Rev. H. B. Recastone
139	29 June 1883	John Stuckbridge Mary Gardiner	John Stockbridge Mary Gardner 💍 1883/39	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 18	Kumara Kumara	2 years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	83/1091	John Gardiner, Father	29 June 1883	A. W. Smith, Deputy
140	29 June 1883	Henry Alexander Crawford Selina Butler	Henry Alexander Crawford Selina Butler 💍 1883/38	Widower Spinster	Stevedore	38 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	83/1090		29 June 1883	A. W. Smith, Deputy

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).