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 532

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
149	28 May 1888	Robert Studholme Thompson Kuini Wi Rangeperper	Robert Studholme Thompson Kuini Wi Rangipupu 💍 1888/1254	Widower Spinster	Native Interpreter	47 26	Wellington Wellington	3 months 5 days	St. Peter's Church	88/1209		28 May 1888	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
150	30 May 1888	Allof Wickman Alice Kelmister	Adolf Wickman Alice Kilmister 💍 1888/1475	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1239		30 May 1888	W. J. Wyatt
151	1 June 1888	James Storie Janet McLead	James Storrie Janet McLeod 💍 1888/1477	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	56 48	Wellington Wellington	4 days 3 days	Registrars office Wellington	88/1240		1 June 1888	W. J. Wyatt
152	1 June 1888	Elijah Smith Emma Blanford	Elijah Smith Emma Blanford 💍 1888/1478	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1241	James Blanford, Father	1 June 1888	W. J. Wyatt
153	4 June 1888	George James Buck Amy Martha Churchill	George James Buck Amy Martha Churchill 💍 1888/1255	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Peter's Church	88/1211		4 June 1888	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
154	4 June 1888	James Rapley Maggie Fox	James Rapley Maggie Fox 💍 1888/1339	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	32 25	Wellington Wellington	14 months 5 days	St. Mark's Church	88/1172		4 June 1888	Rev. R. Coffey
155	4 June 1888	George Woods Lily King	George Woods Lily King 💍 1888/1319	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 21	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	88/1174		4 June 1888	Rev. Wm. Lee
156	5 June 1888	Henry Stedderwick Amelia Horngold	Henry Hedderwick Amelia Merrigold 💍 1888/1479	Bachelor Widow	Baker	25 33	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1242		5 June 1888	W. J. Wyatt
157	6 June 1888	Thomas Edward Lake Minnie Askwith	Thomas Edward Late Minnie Askwith 💍 1888/1480	Bachelor Spinster	Plate Layer	29 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1243	Joseph Askwith, Father	6 June 1888	W. J. Wyatt
158	7 June 1888	Matthew Murdoch Maud Arnold	Matthew Murdoch Maud Arnold 💍 1888/1481	Widower Widow	Joiner	42 42	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1244		7 June 1888	W. J. Wyatt
159	9 June 1888	Charles Hart Eleanor Marshall	Charles Hart Eleanor Marshall 💍 1888/1243	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Maker	22 22	Wellington Wellington	2 months 2 months	House of Bridegroom, Canterbury Place	88/1199		9 June 1888	Mr. Edward Lewis
160	11 June 1888	Thomas Dickson Isabella Jane Bella Blacklock	Thomas Collins Dickson Isabella Jane Blacklock 💍 1888/1334	Widower Spinster	Store Keeper	32 28	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mrs. Blacklock, Featherston Street	88/1167	In letter of "richt" from Patterson & Storey	11 June 1888	Rev. J. Paterson

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).