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 1005

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
13	19 January 1885	Adolphus David Beft Bessie Ann Home	Adolphus David Bott Bessie Ann Horne 💍 1885/426	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsman	37 26	Wellington Wellington	2 months 12 months	St Pauls Cathedral	85/546	19 January 1885	Rev. John Still, B.A.
14	21 January 1885	Jean Jacques de Clerey Florence Emily Desmond	Jean Jacques de Mey d'Alkemade Florence Emily Devonport Moore 💍 1885/353	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	29 22	Wellington Wellington	2 months 2 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/327	21 January 1885	Mr. T. Wyatt, Regr.
15	21 January 1885	William George Parker Lucy Reynal Howman	William George Parker Lucy Keziah Howard 💍 1885/352	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/326	21 January 1885	Mr. T. Wyatt, Regr.
16	21 January 1885	William Horsford Every Mary Jane Richard	William Horsford Essery Mary Jane Pritchard 💍 1885/354	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	35 26	Wellington Wellington	10 months 2 weeks	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/328	21 January 1885	Mr. T. Wyatt, Regr.
17	21 January 1885	John Holmes Mary Woodhouse	John Holmes Mary Woodhouse 💍 1885/590	Widower Widow	Tanner	46 34	Kaiwarra Kaiwarra	7 years 2 months	Residence of Revd C. S. Ogg, Terrace	85/305	21 January 1885	Rev. C. S. Ogg, Pres.
18	23 January 1885	Paul Joseph Murphy Johanna Mary Bourke	Paul Joseph Murphy Johanna Mary Bourke 💍 1885/407	Bachelor Spinster	Prison Officer	31 25	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Mary of the Angels	85/382	23 January 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan, R.C.
19	26 January 1885	William Salomons Rachel Parson	William Salmons Rachel Parsons 💍 1885/357	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 24	Ohariu Wellington	7 years 9 months	Baptist Church, Vivian Street	85/355	26 January 1885	Rev. J. S. Newton, B.A.
20	26 January 1885	Joseph Devlin Bridget Maria Wallen	Joseph Devlin Bridget Maria Dalton 💍 1885/3754	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	32 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Mary of the Angels	85/380	26 January 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan, R.C.
21	26 January 1885	Charles Tilley Emily Susannah Smith	Charles Tilley Emily Susannah Smith 💍 1885/593	Bachelor Widow	Publican	28 32	Wellington Wellington	1 year 6 days	Home of Mr. H. Freeman, Newtown	85/308	26 January 1885	Rev. W. Bammber, Pres.
22	27 January 1885	Harry De Vallenger Gilbert Ada Catherine Wallis	Harry De Vallenger Gilbert Ada Catherine Wallis 💍 1885/362	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	25 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Peters Church	85/360	27 January 1885	Rev. Thomas Fancourt, C. of E.
23	28 January 1885	William Henry Everton Sarah Maria Rose	William Henry Everton Sarah Maria Rose 💍 1885/594	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 32	Wellington Wellington	4 months 3 years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	85/309	28 January 1885	Rev. W. Bammber, Pres.
24	29 January 1885	Bernard McLear Catherine Fox	Bernard McManus Catherine Fox 💍 1885/406	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 21	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	7 years 4 months	St Mary of the Angels	85/381	29 January 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan, R.C.

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).