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 996

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
113	23 April 1885	William Herbert Smith Sarah Ann Harvey	William Herbert Smith Sarah Ann Harvey 💍 1885/1244	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrars office Wellington	85/1285	Henry Harvey, Father	23 April 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
114	25 April 1885	Michael O'Brien Catherine Humphris	Michael O'Brien Catherine Humphries 💍 1885/1399	Bachelor Spinster	A. B. Ince	25 21	Wellington Wellington	1 month 5 days	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/1234		25 April 1885	Revd. John Ch[illegible] R. C.
115	27 April 1885	Thomas Hickey Sarah Cunliffe	Thomas Hickey Sarah Cuncliffe 💍 1885/1405	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	27 26	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 month	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/1237		27 April 1885	Revd. J. McNamara R. C.
116	28 April 1885	Robert Hendle Mary Ann McNulty	Robert Hendle Mary Ann McNelly 💍 1885/1245	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year	Registrars office Wellington	85/1289		28 April 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
117	29 April 1885	Hector Hugh Donald Mary Allan Rigg	Hector Hugh McDonald Mary Allan Rigg 💍 1885/3817	Bachelor Spinster	Run Holder	29 23	Wellington Wellington	1 month 1 year	St. Mary's of the Angels	85/1235		29 April 1885	Revd. T. Kennedy R. C.
118	1 May 1885	Frank Dearing Pelling Mary Susan Clayson	Frank Dearing Pelling Mary Anne Susan Clayson 💍 1885/1199	Bachelor Widow	Baker	21 27	Wellington Wellington	1 year 3 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	85/1233		1 May 1885	Revd. John Shill, C. of E.
119	4 May 1885	Stephen Robert Lancaster Catherine Sarah Smith	Stephen Robert Lancaster Catherine Edith Smith 💍 1885/1246	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 18	Karori Karori	1 year	Registrars office Wellington	85/1290	William Smith, Mother	4 May 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
120	7 May 1885	Henry John Walker Sarah Frances Galwey	Henry John Walker Norah Frances Galway 💍 1885/1403	Widower Spinster	Sheep Farmer	36 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 year	St. Marks Church	85/1258		7 May 1885	Revd. R. Coffey, C. of E.
121	8 May 1885	John Broadbent Hall Ellen Emma Smith	John Broadbent Hall Ellen Emma Smith 💍 1885/1247	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 20	Wellington Wellington	1 year	Registrars office Wellington	85/1291	Henry Smith, Father	8 May 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
122	9 May 1885	Arthur Calcott Louisa Wilhelmina Kreener	Arthur Callcott Louisa Wilhelmina Kruse 💍 1885/1248	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 24	Wellington Wellington	1 year	Registrars office Wellington	85/1292		9 May 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
123	12 May 1885	Peter Pascoe Green Esther Bello	Peter Pascoe Green Harvey Esther Bull 💍 1885/1322	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	21 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year	St. Peters Church	85/1268		12 May 1885	Venble. Archdeacon Stock, C. of E.
124	12 May 1885	John Gray Ellen Creman	John May Ellen Corcoran 💍 1885/1406 John Hyland Ellen Ryan 💍 1886/598 John McCay Ellen Hislop 💍 1886/823	Widower Spinster	Magazine Keeper	29 24	Karori Karori	1 year 7 months	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/1238		12 May 1885	Revd. J. McNamara, 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).