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 519

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
118	27 May 1886	George Andrews Hill Lily Foden	George Andrews Hill Hall Lily Foden 💍 1886/3511	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 18	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mr. R. C. Easby, Lower Hutt	86/1193	Mary Ann Eliza Foden, mother	27 May 1886	Rev. D. J. Murray
119	27 May 1886	Walter Mansfield Ada Stafford	Walter Mansfield Ada Stafford 💍 1886/105	Bachelor Spinster	Stone Mason	26 23	Wellington Wellington	2 years years	Registrar's office, Wellington	86/1225		27 May 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr.
120	29 May 1886	Edward William Low Annie Elizabeth Reid	Edward William Lowe Annie Elizabeth Reid 💍 1886/2600	Bachelor Spinster	Manager Life Assurance	38 34	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Willis Street	86/1259		29 May 1886	Rev. J. Paterson
121	29 May 1886	John Thomas Nicholson Annie McHattie	John Thomas Nicholson Annie McHardie 💍 1886/106	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	25 23	Wellington Wellington	17 months 16 months	Registrar's office, Wellington	86/1224		29 May 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr.
122	29 May 1886	George Haldane Wilsone Sarah Edith Horton	George Haldane Wilsone Sarah Edtih Horton 💍 1886/101	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	22 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	St. Paul's Cathedral	86/1204		29 May 1886	Rev. John Still
123	31 May 1886	Harry Miles Hayward Jessie Beane Luxford	Harry Miles Hayward Jessie Burne Luxford 💍 1886/3507	Bachelor Spinster	Manufacturer's agent	29 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	86/1189	George Henry Luxford, father	31 May 1886	Ven'ble Archdeacon Stock
124	31 May 1886	Worley Basset Edwards Mary Ann Cullen	Worley Bassett Edwards Mary Ann Cutten 💍 1886/3506	Bachelor Widow	Solicitor	35 28	Island Bay Island Bay	years years	St. Peter's Church	86/1188		31 May 1886	Ven'ble Archdeacon Stock
125	1 June 1886	George Duncan Alexandrina Grant	George Duncan Alexandrina Grant 💍 1886/110	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 32	Wellington Petone	2 months 5 weeks	House of Mr. G. Grant, Petone	86/1207		1 June 1886	Rev. W. E. Rodger
126	1 June 1886	Charles Edward Chistey Annie Randell	Charles Edward Chitty Annie Randell 💍 1886/108	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's Cathedral	86/1205		1 June 1886	Rev. John Still
127	1 June 1886	Osborne Cole Isabella Gibson	Osborne Cole Isabella Gibson 💍 1886/3526	Bachelor Spinster	Tin Smith	21 22	Wellington Wellington	9 months years	House of the Rev. G. L. Ogg	86/1184		1 June 1886	Rev. G. L. Ogg
128	2 June 1886	William George Faulkner Alice Martha Ballinger	William George Faulknor Alice Martha Ballinger 💍 1886/3508	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	26 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Peter's Church	86/1190	Elizabeth Ann Ballinger, Mother	2 June 1886	Ven'ble Archdeacon Stock
129	2 June 1886	George Henry A'Court Annie Carlyle	Geroge Henry A'Court Annie Carlyle 💍 1886/1311	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 18	Wellington Wellington	1 month 1 month	Registrar's office, Wellington	86/1231	No relation in Colony	16 June 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr.

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).