Intentions to Marry, 1888

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840400, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 1295

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1888

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
261	1 October 1888	Henry Beloe Crawford Jessie Bogue Liadle	Henry Beloe Crawford Jessie Bogue Liddle 💍 1888/2861	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister and Solicitor	28 24	Wellington Wellington	2 days years	St. Johns Presbyterian Church	88/2978		1 October 1888	Rev. J. Paterson
262	1 October 1888	John Anderson Annie Gallagher	John Anderson Annie Gallagher 💍 1888/3574	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/3580		1 October 1888	Rev. P. Kerrigan
263	3 October 1888	Frederick William Johnston Minnie Payne	Frederick William Johnston Minnie Payne 💍 1888/2909	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 21	Wellington Wellington	years 4 months	Registrars office	88/3001		3 October 1888	W. T. Wyatt
264	4 October 1888	Walter James Ashill Charlotte Annie Smither	Walter James Askill Charlotte Annie Shotter 💍 1888/2910	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars office	88/3002		4 October 1888	W. T. Wyatt
265	8 October 1888	Russell Halley Bessie Duff	Russell Halley Bessie Duff 💍 1888/2869	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	26 22	Wellington Wellington	4 days 2 months	House of Mr. Botham, Angus Avenue	88/2985		8 October 1888	Rev. Joseph Berry
266	8 October 1888	William Henry Courtice Cummins Julia Eliza Rouse	William Henry Curtice Cummens Julia Eliza Rouse 💍 1888/2874	Bachelor Spinster	Range maker	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	88/2990		8 October 1888	Rev. R. Coffey
267	8 October 1888	Robert William Burbridge Agnes Mary Edwards	Robert William Burbidge Agnes Mary Edwards 💍 1888/2911	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	23 27	Wellington Wellington	18 months one day	Registrars office	88/3003		8 October 1888	W. T. Wyatt
268	9 October 1888	John Henry Hickton Charlotte Crompton	John Henry Hickton Charlotte Crompton 💍 1888/2842	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	26 26	Wellington Taranaki Street	3 days 4 days	House of the Rev. W. Lee, Taranaki Street	88/2959		9 October 1888	Rev. W. Lee
269	9 October 1888	James Denby August Jeanetta Bernken	James Ornby August Jeanetta Berntsen 💍 1888/2912	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	21 19	Petone Wellington	years years	Registrars office	88/3004	John Bernken, Father	9 October 1888	W. T. Wyatt
270	11 October 1888	Philip Marcus Port Fanny Lyons	Phillip Marcus Paul Fanny Lyons 💍 1888/2840	Bachelor Spinster	Manager, Meat Coy	28 21	Ngahauranga Wellington	years years	Hebrew Synagogue	88/2957		11 October 1888	Rev. I. Staveren
271	12 October 1888	Alexander Currie Pauling Knyvett Alice Maud Gray Freeth	Alexander Currie Pauling Knyvett Alice Maud Gray Freeth 💍 1888/2914	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Proprietor	33 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 days	Registrars office	88/3006		12 October 1888	W. T. Wyatt
272	15 October 1888	George Wenham Elizabeth Gigger	George Wenham Elizabeth Giggor 💍 1888/2913	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 24	Petone Wellington	4 days years	Registrars office	88/3005		15 October 1888	W. T. Wyatt

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).