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 788

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
76	1 April 1884	William Herman Kate Banks	William Herdman Kate Banks 💍 1884/3736	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	84/1204		1 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
77	4 April 1884	Robert Bradley Isabella Bull	Robert Bradley Isabella Butt 💍 1884/981	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	22 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St Peters Church	84/1236		4 April 1884	Venbly Archdeacon Stock
78	8 April 1884	Francis Septimus Lewin Louisa Taylor	Francis Septimus Lewin Louisa Taylor 💍 1884/965	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	Pahautanui Johnsonville	16 months years	St Johns Church Upper Hutt	84/1241		8 April 1884	Revd John Blackbourne
79	9 April 1884	William Kilmister Harriet Avery	William Kilmister Harriet Avery 💍 1884/975	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	Taita Taita	years years	House of Revd John Muir Woolcombe Street	84/1233	George Avery Father	9 April 1884	Revd John Muir
80	10 April 1884	William Quinton Elizabeth Gaywood	William Quinton Elizabeth Gaywood 💍 1884/2105	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 33	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 months	Registrars Office Wellington	84/1205		10 April 1884	A. M. Smith Deputy
81	10 April 1884	George Martin Margaret Murray	George Martin Margaret Murray 💍 1884/3755	Widower Spinster	Clerk	36 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marys Cathedral	84/1169		10 April 1884	Revd John McNamara
82	12 April 1884	Charles Leonard Barnard Ellen Banks	Charles Leonard Barnard Ellen Banks 💍 1884/976	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	20 19	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Residence of Revd S. Hinton Abel Smith Street	84/1252	William Hooper Barnard Father, Edward Banks Father	12 April 1884	Revd J. S. Hinton
83	12 April 1884	Walter Tyrall Alice Fearey	Walter Tyrill Alice Feasey 💍 1884/2123	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	38 40	Wellington Wellington	11 years years	Residence of Mr Goulder Arthur Street	84/1230		12 April 1884	Revd A. J. Smith
84	15 April 1884	Emerson James Wilson Elizabeth Wickie	Emerson James Wilson Elizabeth Wilkie 💍 1884/979	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	26 25	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Residence of Revd J. Paterson Woolcombe Street	84/1234		15 April 1884	Revd John Muir
85	15 April 1884	Andrew Munce Helena Maud Cahill	Andrew Mince Helena Maud Cahill 💍 1884/2107	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 18	Wellington Wellington	2 months years	Registrars Office Wellington	84/1207		15 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
86	16 April 1884	Walter England Emma Jane Burges	Walter England Emma Jane Burgess 💍 1884/2106	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 28	Lower Hutt Johnsonville	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	84/1206		16 April 1884	A. M. Smith Deputy
87	16 April 1884	Reggi Antonio Kate Dowd		Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	22 19	Kaiwarra Wellington	2 months 12 months	St Marys Cathedral		No Relation in Colony	30 April 1884	Revd John McNamara

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 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).