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 131

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1886

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
1	1 January 1886	George Thekston Bainton Jane Somerville	George Thistleton Bainton Jane Somerville 💍 1886/464	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	39 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	86/327		1 January 1886	W. T. Wyatt Registrar
2	4 January 1886	Robert Patrick Shaw Mary O'Leary	Robert Patrick Shaw Mary OLeary 💍 1886/438	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	86/301		4 January 1886	Revd J. Mc Namara
3	5 January 1886	James Daly Bridget Cronin	James Daly Bridget Cronin 💍 1886/467	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 24	Wellington Wellington	4 months 1 month	Registrars office Wellington	86/330		5 January 1886	W. J. Wyatt Registrar
4	6 January 1886	Joseph Albert McGrath Mary Geraldine Browne	Joseph Albert McGrath Mary Geraldine Brownie 💍 1886/449	Bachelor Spinster	Detective	27 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	86/302		6 January 1886	Revd J. Mc Namara
5	8 January 1886	Alexander McKechnie Ellen Grace	Alexander McKechnie Ellen Grace 💍 1886/485	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	26 26	Wellington Wellington	18 months 18 months	St. Peters Church	86/356		8 January 1886	Venerable Archdeacon Stock Registrar
6	9 January 1886	James Charles Hone Jessie Boyce	James Charles Moore Jessie Boyce 💍 1886/468	Bachelor Spinster	Station Hand	23 20	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	Registrars office Wellington	86/331	John Boyce, Father	9 January 1886	W. T. Wyatt Registrar
7	9 January 1886	George John Squires Mary Bromley	George John Squires Mary Brownly 💍 1886/441	Widower Spinster	Farmer	50 33	Stokes Valley Lower Hutt	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	86/312		9 January 1886	Revd T. Komgan Registrar
8	12 January 1886	William Isaac Martha Elizabeth Potts	William Isaac Martha Elizabeth Potts 💍 1886/471	Widower Spinster	Baker	40 35	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	86/334		12 January 1886	W. T. Wyatt Registrar
9	12 January 1886	Thomas Turner Susannah Fanny Austen	Thomas Turner Susannah Fanny Austin 💍 1886/496	Widower Widow	Constable	43 32	Wellington Mr. Johnston Adelaide Road	years years	Home of Mr. Johnston Adelaide Road	86/360		12 January 1886	Revd J. J. Lloyd Church of England
10	13 January 1886	Ernest George Statham Braham Rebecca Asher	Ernest George Nathan Braham Rebecca Asher 💍 1886/443	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	20 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Hebrew Synagogue	86/314	Grand Asher, Father	13 January 1886	Revd H. van Staveren Hebrew
11	13 January 1886	Herbert Winckworth Hunt Auguste Grossman	Herbert Winckworth Hunt Auguste Grossmann 💍 1886/470	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	86/333		13 January 1886	W. S. Wyatt Registrar
12	15 January 1886	George William Barthrop Emma Jane Barnard	George William Barltrop Emma Jane Barnard 💍 1886/517	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	86/365		15 January 1886	Revd R. Coffey Registrar

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).