Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 794

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1884

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
25	29 January 1884	Robert Harry Wilson Bessie Turner	Robert Harry Wilson Bessie Turner 💍 1884/519	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	22 21	Wellington Wellington	11 days 11 days	Mr. Dean's House Featherston Terrace	84/290		29 January 1884	Revd. W. J. Dean
26	30 January 1884	Charles John Alexander Edith Winter	Charles John Alexander Edith Winter 💍 1884/527	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 23	Wellington Wellington	2 years 3 weeks	St. Mark's Church	84/292		30 January 1884	Revd. C. D. de Castro
27	31 January 1884	Thomas Agait Warwick Elizabeth Milner	Thomas Agate Warwick Elizabeth Millner 💍 1884/511	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 5 days	Mr. Milner's Home Adelaide Road	84/300		31 January 1884	Revd. R. Bavin
28	31 January 1884	George Morris Martha Eleanor Garrett	George Morris Martha Eleanor Garrett 💍 1884/265	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 19	Wellington Wellington	5 days 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	84/261		31 January 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
29	31 January 1884	Harry Brooks Mason Henrietta Emma Rex	Harry Brooks Mason Henrietta Emma Rex 💍 1884/512	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	24 25	Wellington Wellington	1 year 4 years	House of Mr. Rex, Wellington Terrace	84/307		31 January 1884	Revd. W. Bamber
30	2 February 1884	Joseph James Wood Selene Erina Maria Scaramelli		Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	21 18	Wellington Wellington	2 years 7 years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/325	Geovanni Scaramelli Father	2 February 1884	Revd. P. Kerrigan
31	2 February 1884	Roland Jaques Kate Sheeran	Roland Jacques Kate Sheeran 💍 1884/325	Bachelor Spinster	Stable Proprietor	38 22	Wellington Wellington	9 days 4 years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/324		2 February 1884	Revd. P. Kerrigan
32	6 February 1884	Henry Silk Agnes Higgins	Henry Silk Agnes Higgins 💍 1884/46	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	84/263		6 February 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
33	6 February 1884	George Herbert Scales Gertrude Maynard Snow	George Herbert Scales Gertrude Maynard Snow 💍 1884/532	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 24	Hutt Wellington	2 years 4 years	St. Peters Church	84/294		6 February 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock
34	8 February 1884	George Jones Jane Gray	George Jones Jane Gray 💍 1884/971	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 20	Pahautanui Pahautanui	4 years 4 years	Revd. Mr. Paterson's Store Terrace	84/297	Christina Florence Snow mother	8 February 1884	Revd. James Paterson
35	11 February 1884	Thomas Rosae Atkinson Catherine Clara Toop	Thomas Rosae Atkinson Catherine Clara Toop 💍 1884/285	Bachelor Spinster	French Polisher	21 17	Wellington Wellington	5 years 9 years	Registrars Office Wellington	84/265	Richard Noah Toop Father	11 February 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
36	12 February 1884	William Urquhart Alice Hannah Henderson	William Urquhart Alice Hannah Henderson 💍 1884/524	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 20	Petone Petone	1 year 1 year	Church of England Lower Hutt	84/312	Thomas Henderson Father	12 February 1884	Revd. J. Fancourt

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).