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 518

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
106	10 May 1886	James Hashings Emily Hoverd	James Hastings Emily Hoverd 💍 1886/99	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	86/1220		10 May 1886	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
107	12 May 1886	William Chamberlain Annie Priscilla Remnant	William Chamberlain Annie Priscilla Remnant 💍 1886/100	Bachelor Spinster	Commission agent	33 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 8 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	86/1221		12 May 1886	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
108	18 May 1886	Theodor Mattson Maria Evilina Bather	Theodore Mattson Marija Evelina Rosher 💍 1886/1721	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	31 29	Wellington Taranaki Street	6 months years	Wesleyan Parsonage	86/1633		18 May 1886	Rev. W. C. Oliver
109	18 May 1886	Alfred Mark Smith Emily Keys	Alfred Mark Shaw Emily Keys 💍 1886/102	Bachelor Spinster	Tin Smith	24 25	Wellington Wellington	years 18 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	86/1222		18 May 1886	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
110	19 May 1886	Henry James Archer Minnie Kear	Henry James Archer Minnie Kear 💍 1886/103	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	86/1223		19 May 1886	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
111	19 May 1886	Norman Campbell Isabella Cotterell		Bachelor Widow	Sheep Farmer	40 34	Wellington Wellington	5 days 10 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1203		19 May 1886	Rev. John Still, Clergyman
112	19 May 1886	Charles Lancaster Hannah Whitaker	Charles Lancaster Hannah Whittaker 💍 1886/104	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 18	Wellington Wellington	3 months 3 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	86/1224	Edward Whitaker, father	19 May 1886	W. S. Wyatt, Regr
113	19 May 1886	William Joseph Hugh Clifford Kate Caroline Bassett	William Joseph Hugh Clifford Kate Caroline Bassett 💍 1886/1315	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	27 17	Stutt Blenheim	5 days years	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	86/1233	William Frederick Bassett, father	19 May 1886	Rev. John Lane, R.C.
114	21 May 1886	William Newson Maria Norris	William Newson Maria Norris 💍 1886/1720	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Mrs. Newsons House, Palmer Street	86/1634		21 May 1886	Rev. W. C. Oliver
115	24 May 1886	Walter King Maria Evans	Walter King Maria Evans 💍 1886/3528	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 22	Wellington Lower Hutt	8 months 7 years	St. James Church	86/1186		24 May 1886	Rev. E. G. Gross, Clergyman
116	25 May 1886	George Richard Bright Helen Louisa Duff	George Richard Bright Helen Louisa Duff 💍 1886/1300	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 18	Wellington Pirie Street	3 days 4 months	Store of Mr. Duff	86/1242	Letitia Duff, mother	25 May 1886	Rev. H. N. Driver, Baptist
117	26 May 1886	John Thomas Mack Jane Eliza Prince	John T Mack Jane Eliza Prince 💍 1886/3525	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	20 20	Kaiwarra Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Bell, Kaiwarra	86/1183	Peter James Mack, father; John James Prince, father	26 May 1886	Rev. C. Y. Ogg, Presbyterian

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).