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 795

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
13	17 January 1884	James Wilkie Liddell Catherine Amelia Wright	James Wilkie Liddell Catherine Amelia Wright 💍 1884/970	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	37 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Residence of Mr. Sydney Wright, Hopper Street	84/1246		17 January 1884	Rev. J. Paterson, Pres.
14	21 January 1884	Norman Campbell Elizabeth Ann Burn	Norman Campbell Elizabeth Ann Burn 💍 1884/259	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	23 25	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	16 months 2 Weeks	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1256		21 January 1884	A. M. Smith, Depy.
15	21 January 1884	Albert Barns Elinor Maud Woodward	Albert Barns Elenor Maude Woodward 💍 1884/977	Widower Spinster	Auctioneer	45 33	Wellington Wades Town	3 days years	Mr. Woodward's Residence, Wade Town	84/1254		21 January 1884	Rev. W. H. West, Congre.
16	24 January 1884	Frederick Webb Margaret Anderson	Frederick Webb Margaret Anderson 💍 1884/266	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1262	No relative in Colony	5 February 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
17	24 January 1884	Patrick William Mungavin Ellen Barrow	Patrick William Mungavin Ellen Barrow 💍 1884/260	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 26	Porirua Pahautanui	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1257		24 January 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
18	24 January 1884	Joseph Harris Magdalen Shira Brown	Joseph Harris Magdalen Shirer Brown 💍 1884/291	Widower Spinster	Settler	42 24	Pahautanui Pahautanui	1 Week 1 Week	St. Johns Church, Willis Street	84/1288		24 January 1884	Rev. John Muir, Pres.
19	24 January 1884	John Thomas Kirkers Annie Kidman	John Thomas Kirkers Annie Tidman 💍 1884/264	Bachelor Spinster	Barber	26 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1260	Henry Kidman, Father	24 January 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
20	24 January 1884	Frank Allen Harriet Simpson	Frank Allen Harriet Simpson 💍 1884/346	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Manager	42 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	84/1321		24 January 1884	Rev. R. J. Thorpe, Cong.
21	25 January 1884	Domenico Beratto Matilda Schroger	Domenico Beralto Matilda Schroggs 💍 1884/274	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	32 19	Karori Wellington	3 months 2 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1264	No relative in Colony	9 February 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
22	25 January 1884	Charles Alexander Watt Edith Alma Reynell	Charles Alexander Watts Edith Alma Reynell 💍 1884/261	Bachelor Divorcee	Sheep Farmer	32 29	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1258		25 January 1884	J. G. Holdsworth
23	26 January 1884	William Edward Ford Johanna Rooney	William Hamilton Johanna Troy 💍 1885/727	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	28 21	Wellington Wellington	2 months 8 months	St. Marys Cathedral	84/1314		26 January 1884	Rev. John McNamara, RC.
24	29 January 1884	Henry Longhurst Ellen Entwistle	Henry Longhurst Ellen Entwistle 💍 1884/523	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	22 22	Karori Wellington	years 3 months	St. Marys, Karori	84/1311		29 January 1884	Rev. A. Devane

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).