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 184

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1886 Registrar Robert Kirton

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

17 March 1886

Andrew Bogle
Emma Elizabeth Baker

Andrew Bogle
Emma Elizabeth Baker
💍 1886/589

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

23
24

Kawai Street Nelson
Manuka Road Nelson

22 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Bogle, Kawai Street, Nelson

86/461

17 March 1886

Rev. Henry Josiah Lewis Congregational Church

No	13
Date of Notice	17 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Bogle	Emma Elizabeth Baker
	💍 1886/589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Kawai Street Nelson	Manuka Road Nelson
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Bogle, Kawai Street, Nelson
Folio	86/461
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Josiah Lewis Congregational Church

18 March 1886

Robert Henderson Simpson
Margaret Davidson

Robert Henderson Simpson
Margaret Davidson
💍 1886/623

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

27
24

Russell Street Nelson
Grove Street Nelson

27 years
10 years

Wesleyan Parsonage, Nelson

86/471

18 March 1886

Rev. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church

No	14
Date of Notice	18 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henderson Simpson	Margaret Davidson
	💍 1886/623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Russell Street Nelson	Grove Street Nelson
Length of Residence	27 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage, Nelson
Folio	86/471
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Henry Beck, Wesleyan Church

19 March 1886

George Frederick Hopkins Dee
Charlotte Ann Ferry

George Frederick Hopkins Dee
Charlotte Ann Ferry
💍 1886/586

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

23
24

Collingwood Street Nelson
Nile Street East Nelson

23 years
2 years

Baptist Church, Nelson

86/458

19 March 1886

Rev. Thomas Anson Cato, Baptist Church

No	15
Date of Notice	19 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Hopkins Dee	Charlotte Ann Ferry
	💍 1886/586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Collingwood Street Nelson	Nile Street East Nelson
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Nelson
Folio	86/458
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Anson Cato, Baptist Church

23 March 1886

Richard Clement Kirk
Amelia Frances Barnicoat

Richard Clement Kirk
Amelia Frances Barnicoat
💍 1886/590

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Nil

23
24

Richmond Waimea
Richmond Waimea

4 days
24 years

St Albans Church, Appleby

86/462

23 March 1886

Right Revd. A. B. Suter Bishop Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	23 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Clement Kirk	Amelia Frances Barnicoat
	💍 1886/590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Nil
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Richmond Waimea	Richmond Waimea
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Albans Church, Appleby
Folio	86/462
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Right Revd. A. B. Suter Bishop Church of England

25 March 1886

Frederick Craven Batchelor
Elizabeth Kerr

Frederick Craven Batchelor
Elizabeth Kerr
💍 1886/585

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Nil

29
22

Waimea Street Nelson
Waimea Street Nelson

1 Week
2 Weeks

Residence of Thomas Brown, Washington Valley, Nelson

86/457

25 March 1886

Rev. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church

No	17
Date of Notice	25 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Craven Batchelor	Elizabeth Kerr
	💍 1886/585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Nil
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Waimea Street Nelson	Waimea Street Nelson
Length of Residence	1 Week	2 Weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Brown, Washington Valley, Nelson
Folio	86/457
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Calder, Presbyterian Church

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).