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 516

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
82	17 April 1886	Robert Hayward Smale Mary Ann Dyer	Robert Howard Smale Mary Ann Dyke 💍 1886/1719	Bachelor Widow	Upholsterer	24 30	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. W. C. Oliver, Taranaki Street	86/1633		17 April 1886	Revd. W. C. Oliver
83	19 April 1886	Walter Fell Margaret Richmond	Walter Fell Margaret Richmond 💍 1886/3517	Bachelor Spinster	M. D.	31 29	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1198		19 April 1886	Revd. John Still
84	19 April 1886	William Charles Matter Marian Madeline Wyatt	William Charles Marter Maria Madeline Wyatt 💍 1886/1718	Bachelor Spinster	Comedian	20 21	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	House of Mr. Matter, Wordsworth Street	86/1632	John Charles Matter, father	19 April 1886	Revd. W. C. Oliver
85	19 April 1886	Robert George Gibbons Emma Jane Langer	Robert George Gibbons Emma Jane Morger 💍 1886/3514	Widower Spinster	Agent	34 28	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks 5 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1194		19 April 1886	Revd. John Still
86	19 April 1886	William Charles Bright Mary Mulvahill	William Charles Bright Mary Mulvihill 💍 1886/3515	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Nash, Nash Street	86/1119		19 April 1886	Revd. J. Paterson
87	20 April 1886	Charles Johnson Ann Elizabeth Pope	Charles Johnson Ann Elizabeth Pope 💍 1886/1282	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	21 18	Wellington Wellington	3 months years	House of Mr. Pope, Willis Street	86/1143	James Pope, father	20 April 1886	Revd. P. N. Hunter
88	20 April 1886	John Edmonds Russell Sarah Elizabeth Parsons	John Edmund Russell Sarah Elizabeth Ponsons 💍 1886/3519	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1200		20 April 1886	Revd. John Still
89	21 April 1886	George Richards Emily Smith	George Richards Emily Smith 💍 1886/3505	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	35 32	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Peters Church	86/1184		21 April 1886	Archdeacon Stock
90	21 April 1886	Charles Brooke Taylor Emma Archer	Charles Brooke Taylor Emma Archer 💍 1886/3527	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	30 20	Wellington Lower Hutt	years	St. James Church	86/1185	Joseph Archer, father	21 April 1886	Revd. E. S. Cross
91	21 April 1886	Ernest Ephraim Wright Margaret Emma Douglas	Ernest Ephraim Wright Margaret Emma Douglas 💍 1886/94	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars Office, Wellington	86/1215		21 April 1886	W. D. Wray, Registrar
92	22 April 1886	George Paterson Wilson Marie Jane Park	George Paterson Wilson Marie Jane Park 💍 1886/3523	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman	34 24	Wellington Wellington	years	House of The Revd. J. Paterson	86/1181		22 April 1886	Revd. J. Paterson
93	27 April 1886	Charles William Vallange Eleanor Louisa Ormond	Charles William Vallange Eleanor Louisa Ormond 💍 1886/3518	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	26 22	Wellington Wellington	4 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1199		27 April 1886	Revd. J. F. B. Parkes

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).