Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 989

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1885

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
185	15 July 1885	Alfred Bale Ada Hayward	Alfred Bale Ada Hayward 💍 1885/2191	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	42 19	Wellington Wellington	1 month 1 month	Registrars office Wellington	85/2229	Joseph Edwin Hayward, Father	15 July 1885	Mr. S. Wyatt Regr
186	15 July 1885	George Henry Welch Annie Kemble	George Henry Welch Annie Kemble 💍 1885/2220	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 40	Taita Lower Hutt	years years	St. James Church Lower Hutt	85/2231	George Green, Guardian	15 July 1885	Revd. E. J. Grace
187	20 July 1885	Frederick Martin Elizabeth Scott	Frederick Martin Elizabeth Trotter 💍 1885/2222	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 24	Wellington Makara	years years	English Church Makara	85/2228		20 July 1885	Revd. A. Duncan
188	21 July 1885	James Smith Flora Butt	James Smith Florance Butt 💍 1885/2159	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 22	Wellington Thorndon	years years	Wesleyan Church Taranaki Street	85/2226		21 July 1885	Revd. W. C. Oliver
189	22 July 1885	George Leonard Bridget Buckley	George Lenard Bridget Buckley 💍 1885/2200	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	35 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	85/2229		22 July 1885	Mr. S. Wyatt Regr
190	22 July 1885	William Harrison Mundellay Henrietta Alice Secker		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 22	Wellington Lower Hutt	years years	Mr. Tucker's House Lower Hutt	85/2278		22 July 1885	Mr. S. Wyatt Regr
191	22 July 1885	Henry James Bassett Honora Healey	Henry James Bassett Hanora Dooley 💍 1885/2201	Widower Spinster	Contractor	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years 6 months	Registrars office Wellington	85/2230		22 July 1885	Mr. S. Wyatt Regr
192	22 July 1885	Evelyn Edward Ketton Mary Hendry	Evelyn Edward Robbins Mary Hendry 💍 1885/2212	Bachelor Spinster	Brass Founder	29 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	85/2289		28 July 1885	Revd. John Still
193	28 July 1885	Charles William Peniston Martha Reynolds	Charles William Perrin Martha Reynolds 💍 1885/2160	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 25	Wellington Te Aro	5 months 1 Week	Mr. Freer's House Te Aro	85/2263		28 July 1885	Revd. W. C. Oliver
194	29 July 1885	Hector Francis Duncan Caroline Jane Evans	Hector Francis Davidson Caroline Jane Evans 💍 1885/2213	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master	22 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 Weeks	St. Pauls Cathedral	85/2290		29 July 1885	Revd. John Still
195	30 July 1885	William McDiarmid Louisa Foden	William McDiarmid Louisa Mary Foden 💍 1885/2221	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	26 24	Wellington Lower Hutt	years years	Generally St. James Church Lower Hutt	85/2294		30 July 1885	Revd. T. B. Maclean
196	31 July 1885	George Walter James Louisa Turquan Hook	George Walter James Louisa Hook 💍 1885/3010	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Maker	24 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Hook Courtenay Place	85/3200		31 July 1885	Revd. J. Paterson

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).