Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 053

District of Quarter ending 31 March 1886 Registrar John Owen Lord

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

27 January 1886

Arthur Incheman Clarke
Annie Katharine Deacon

Arthur Tuckerman Clarke
Annie Katharine Deacon
💍 1886/249

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Merchant

30
36

Auckland
Auckland

12 months
11 months

St Thomas Church, Freemans Bay

86/34

27 January 1886

Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	27 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Incheman Clarke	Annie Katharine Deacon
BDM Match (91%)	Arthur Tuckerman Clarke	Annie Katharine Deacon
	💍 1886/249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Merchant
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 months	11 months
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church, Freemans Bay
Folio	86/34
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, Church of England

27 January 1886

James Cain Harwood
Jane Reed

James Dairs Hargood
Jane Reed
💍 1886/306

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman

36
33

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
6 months

Registrars Office

86/120

27 January 1886

J. Owen Lord, Reg.

No	58
Date of Notice	27 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cain Harwood	Jane Reed
BDM Match (89%)	James Dairs Hargood	Jane Reed
	💍 1886/306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	86/120
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1886
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Reg.

28 January 1886

Sydney Blackmore
Catherine Gregson

Sydney Blackmore
Catherine Treglowan
💍 1886/307

Bachelor
Widow

Gardener

25
28

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
1 year

Registrars Office

86/121

28 January 1886

J. Owen Lord, Reg.

No	59
Date of Notice	28 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Blackmore	Catherine Gregson
BDM Match (89%)	Sydney Blackmore	Catherine Treglowan
	💍 1886/307
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Gardener
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	86/121
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1886
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Reg.

28 January 1886

James Harris
Louisa McEdward

James Harris
Louisa McElwaine
💍 1886/232

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
19

Auckland
Auckland

23 months
7 months

Dwelling of W. R. McEdward, Surrey St.

86/40

Walter R. McEdward, Father

28 January 1886

Rev. I. G. Barr, Wesleyan

No	60
Date of Notice	28 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harris	Louisa McEdward
BDM Match (88%)	James Harris	Louisa McElwaine
	💍 1886/232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of W. R. McEdward, Surrey St.
Folio	86/40
Consent	Walter R. McEdward, Father
Date of Certificate	28 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. G. Barr, Wesleyan

30 January 1886

William Edward Stubband
Florence Gyle

William Edward Huband
Florence Gill
💍 1886/268

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
25

Manukau Heads
Auckland

22 months
8 months

Dwelling of Mr Charles Sprague, View Road

86/54

1 February 1886

Rev. I. Adams, Congl. Indept.

No	61
Date of Notice	30 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Stubband	Florence Gyle
BDM Match (86%)	William Edward Huband	Florence Gill
	💍 1886/268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Manukau Heads	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr Charles Sprague, View Road
Folio	86/54
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Adams, Congl. Indept.

1 February 1886

Thomas Lowe
Laura Josephine Traill

Thomas Lowe
Laura Josephine Trail
💍 1886/262

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

22
25

Mercury Bay
Auckland

18 months
25 years

Dwelling of William Traill, Wellington Street

86/40

1 February 1886

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	1 February 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lowe	Laura Josephine Traill
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Lowe	Laura Josephine Trail
	💍 1886/262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Mercury Bay	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Traill, Wellington Street
Folio	86/40
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

1 February 1886

George Arthur Gibbin
Margaret Annie Clarke

George Arthur Gribbin
Margaret Anne Clarke
💍 1886/233

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

23 months
21 months

Wesleyan Church, Pitt St

86/41

1 February 1886

Rev. I. G. Barr, Wesleyan

No	63
Date of Notice	1 February 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Gibbin	Margaret Annie Clarke
BDM Match (95%)	George Arthur Gribbin	Margaret Anne Clarke
	💍 1886/233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 months	21 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Pitt St
Folio	86/41
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. G. Barr, Wesleyan

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).