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 993

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
149	8 June 1885	George Rose Annie Filanwood	George Rex Annie Filewood 💍 1885/1231 George Raven Annie Connor 💍 1885/2620	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	21 19	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars office Wellington	85/1299	Ellen Filanwood, mother	8 June 1885	W. E. Wyatt
150	8 June 1885	William Wakelin Elizabeth Boyd	William Watson Elizabeth Boyce 💍 1885/1303 William Sime Elizabeth Page 💍 1885/3227 William Fergie Elizabeth Hayman 💍 1885/1964 William Bailie Elizabeth Ann Morris 💍 1886/512 William Bailey Elizabeth Brickley 💍 1885/3023 William Macalister Elizabeth McKay 💍 1885/3568 William Caldwell Elizabeth Rennie 💍 1885/2184 William Birkett Elizabeth Burling 💍 1885/2240 William Downs Elizabeth Ryland 💍 1886/425 William McCormick Elizabeth McCloy 💍 1885/3792 William W S Hales Elizabeth Fisher 💍 1885/526 William Frazer Elizabeth Steedman 💍 1885/204 William Forsyth Elizabeth Borkaski 💍 1886/713 William Adams Elizabeth Lucas 💍 1885/2299	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years	St Peters Church	85/1292		8 June 1885	Rev. C. S. Ogg
151	9 June 1885	Michael Griffin Annie Gleeson	Michael Griffin Annie Gleeson 💍 1885/1194	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 23	Wellington Wellington	2 years	St Mary of the Angels	85/1224		9 June 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan RC
152	11 June 1885	William Henry Faulkner Frances Standen	William Henry Southcombe Frances Standen 💍 1885/1305	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	21 25	Wellington Karori	3 days years	Mrs Standens House Karori	85/1244		11 June 1885	Rev. J. F. Lloyd Chaplain
152	18 June 1885	Samuel Wallace Grover Euphemia Drysdale	Samuel Wallice Groves Euphemia Drysdale 💍 1885/1234	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	35 28	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars office Wellington	85/1302		18 June 1885	W. E. Wyatt Registrar
153	12 June 1885	Samuel Henry Walker Mary Henley Harrison	Samuel Henry Brown Walke Mary Henly Henderson 💍 1885/1318	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	34 40	Wellington Wellington	8 months 2 years	Tory Place	85/1264		12 June 1885	Rev. R. W. Jones
154	12 June 1885	George Evans Annie Adcock	George Evans Annie Adcock 💍 1885/3591	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Smith	30 28	Wellington Wellington	4 months 9 weeks	St Marks Church	85/1379		12 June 1885	Rev. R. Coffey Chaplain
155	16 June 1885	Walter Horrocks Higgin Eliza Layfield	Walter Horrocks Heighton Eliza Layfield 💍 1885/1302	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	30 20	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	St Peters Church	85/1241	George Lewis Layfield, father	16 June 1885	Archdeacon Stock Chaplain
156	17 June 1885	John Theobald Richardson Zeepha Ide	John Theobald Richardson Zilpha Ide 💍 1885/3820	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Bridegroom Victoria Place	85/1253		17 June 1885	W. E. Wyatt Registrar
157	17 June 1885	William Henry French Giles Clara Mary Ross	William Henry French Giles Clara Mary Ross 💍 1885/1233	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 23	Wellington Wellington	2 years	Registrars office Wellington	85/1307		17 June 1885	W. E. Wyatt Registrar
159	19 June 1885	Robert John Lucas Alice Maud Lovelace	Robert John Lucas Alice Maud Lovelace 💍 1885/1235	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	25 22	Hutt Wellington	2 years	Registrars office Wellington	85/1303		19 June 1885	W. E. Wyatt Registrar
160	20 June 1885	William Henry Martin Mary Craig	William Henry Shadbolt Mary Brown 💍 1885/2424 William Henry Eades Mary Campbell 💍 1885/2156	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 21	Upper Hutt Lower Hutt	years	Church of St Peter and St Paul Lower Hutt	85/1304		20 June 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan RC

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).