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 1004

District of 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
25	2 February 1885	Albert Harrison Surcliffe Kate Elizabeth Haybittle	Albert Harrison Sutcliffe Kate Elizabeth Haybittle 💍 1885/361	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	25 22	Wellington Wellington	8 days years	St. Peters Church	85/859		2 February 1885	Venble Archdeacon Stock Coff
26	2 February 1885	William John Harrison Mary Ann Bush	William John Hamilton Mary Ann Cush 💍 1885/332 William John Smith Mary Ann Evans 💍 1885/2514 William Moon Watson Mary Ann Finlinson 💍 1885/3463 William Owen Evans Mary Anne Hughes 💍 1885/82	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	40 35	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	85/330		2 February 1885	W. I. Wyatt
27	2 February 1885	Benjamin Henry George Burn Charlotte Beatrice Lower	Benjamin Henry George Burns Charlotte Beatrice Lewer 💍 1885/598	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	19 19	Wellington Karori	years years	House of Mr. John Beer Elizabeth Street	85/313	Agnes Beer, mother; Allen Lower, father	9 February 1885	Rev° John Beer
28	2 February 1885	Robert Reid Edith Cades	Robert Reid Edith Eades 💍 1885/370	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet maker	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Cades, Taranaki Street	85/361		2 February 1885	Rev° W. B. Rector
29	2 February 1885	John Trayce Greig Annie Mary Gloger	John Fordyce Greig Annie Mary Eliza Mitchell 💍 1885/415	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. James Mitchell, Kent Terrace	85/341		2 February 1885	Rev° A. J. Smith
30	3 February 1885	Thomas Henry Armstrong Kathleen Agatha Duncan	Thomas Henry Armstrong Kathleen Agatha Sullivan 💍 1885/1409	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	28 22	Wellington Wellington	2 years 1 month	House of Mr. J. Paterson, Terrace	85/1241		3 February 1885	Rev° J. Paterson
31	5 February 1885	Osborn Osborn Jane Newell	Osborn Orsborn Jane Newell 💍 1885/333	Bachelor Spinster	Milkman	22 33	Wellington Wellington	7 months 7 months	Registrars office Wellington	85/331		5 February 1885	W. I. Wyatt
32	5 February 1885	Alexander Scott Nicol Robina Sinclair	Alexander Scott Nichol Robina Sinclair 💍 1885/591	Bachelor Spinster	Moulder	24 23	Kaiwarra Kaiwarra	4 months 12 months	House of Mr. Sinclair, Kaiwarra	85/356		5 February 1885	Rev° C. J. Ogg
33	5 February 1885	Frederick Valentine Dyer Agnes Jean Dyer	Frederick Valentine Waters Agnes Mansfield Dyer 💍 1885/427	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	85/377		5 February 1885	Rev° John Stile
34	6 February 1885	Christopher Bradley Ellen Lydia Garmaney	Christopher Bradley Ellen Lydia Gannaway 💍 1885/335	Widower Spinster	Engine Fitter	41 40	Wellington Wellington	7 months 13 months	Registrars office Wellington	85/333		6 February 1885	W. I. Wyatt
35	9 February 1885	James Willacy Mary Hemay	James Willacy Mary Murray 💍 1885/592	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	27 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Andrews Church	85/307		9 February 1885	Rev° C. J. Ogg
36	9 February 1885	William Gardiner Flora London	William Gardner Flora London 💍 1885/330	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 20	Pahautanui Pahautanui	years years	Anglican Church, Pahautanui	85/320		23 February 1885	Rev° J. C. Blackburne

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).