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 1228

District of Quarter ending 31 December 1888

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

499

27 December 1888

Harry Hockley
Georgina Mudford

Harry Hockey
Georgina Mudford
💍 1888/2681

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Painter

26
21

Albert Street
Auckland

6 years
2 years

Dwelling of Regr Arthur Smith

88/2768

27 December 1888

Rev A. F. Smith P. Methodist

No	499
Date of Notice	27 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hockley	Georgina Mudford
BDM Match (96%)	Harry Hockey	Georgina Mudford
	💍 1888/2681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Painter
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Albert Street	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Regr Arthur Smith
Folio	88/2768
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev A. F. Smith P. Methodist

500

27 December 1888

James Patrick Nixon
Martha Theresa Horsey

James Patrick Nixon
Martha Theresa Harvey
💍 1889/613

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Painter

35
19

Robson Street
Newton

35 years
14 years

St Benedicts Church

88/90

Martha Horsey, mother

27 December 1888

Rev F. C. Downey R. Catholic

No	500
Date of Notice	27 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patrick Nixon	Martha Theresa Horsey
BDM Match (95%)	James Patrick Nixon	Martha Theresa Harvey
	💍 1889/613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Painter
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Robson Street	Newton
Length of Residence	35 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Benedicts Church
Folio	88/90
Consent	Martha Horsey, mother
Date of Certificate	27 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev F. C. Downey R. Catholic

501

27 December 1888

William John Roderke
Margaret Griffiths

William John Burke
Margaret Griffiths
💍 1888/2671

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Painter

29
19

Naimanka
Naimanka

8 years
1 year

Dwelling of Regr Church

88/2759

James Griffiths, father

27 December 1888

Rev F. C. Parsons Baptist

No	501
Date of Notice	27 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Roderke	Margaret Griffiths
BDM Match (90%)	William John Burke	Margaret Griffiths
	💍 1888/2671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Painter
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Naimanka	Naimanka
Length of Residence	8 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Regr Church
Folio	88/2759
Consent	James Griffiths, father
Date of Certificate	27 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev F. C. Parsons Baptist

502

27 December 1888

Henry Andrew Brain
Lucy Raybourn

Bachelor
Spinster

Grain Merchant
Painter

23
23

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

23 years
23 years

The Baptist Church

88/87

27 December 1888

Rev F. C. Parsons Baptist

No	502
Date of Notice	27 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Andrew Brain	Lucy Raybourn
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grain Merchant	Painter
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Baptist Church
Folio	88/87
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev F. C. Parsons Baptist

503

28 December 1888

Thomas Moir Dalgleish
Annie Stewart Leitch

Thomas Moir
Annie Stuart Leitch
💍 1888/2707

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Fitter

27
23

Scotland
Scotland

2 years
23 years

Dwelling of Mr Joseph Buchanan

88/794

28 December 1888

Rev R. C. West Presbyterian

No	503
Date of Notice	28 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Moir Dalgleish	Annie Stewart Leitch
BDM Match (71%)	Thomas Moir	Annie Stuart Leitch
	💍 1888/2707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Fitter
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Scotland	Scotland
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr Joseph Buchanan
Folio	88/794
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev R. C. West Presbyterian

504

28 December 1888

William Mayford Johnston
Jessie Taylor

William Wreford
Jessie Taylor
💍 1888/2756

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Spinster

34
32

Northern Wairoa
Auckland

20 years
23 years

Registrars Office

88/2844

28 December 1888

Owen Lord Regr

No	504
Date of Notice	28 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mayford Johnston	Jessie Taylor
BDM Match (75%)	William Wreford	Jessie Taylor
	💍 1888/2756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Spinster
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Northern Wairoa	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	88/2844
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Owen Lord Regr

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 1903. 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).