Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 249

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1891

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
366	21 December 1891	Charles Justen Pyke Jessie Ada Loring	Charles Surtus Pyke Jessie Ada Dorrington 💍 1891/2226	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	29 26	Wellington Wellington	4 days 2 months	St Pauls Cathedral, Thorndon	91/3132		21 December 1891	Rev. F. W. Walker
367	21 December 1891	John William Ritchie Mahilda Hoggan	John William Ritchie Matilda Hoggan 💍 1891/2230	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	21 23	Wellington Wellington	7 months 3 days	House of Bridegroom	91/3110		21 December 1891	Rev. W. Shirer
368	21 December 1891	Albert John Smith Emily Dickens	Albert John Smith Emily Dickens 💍 1891/2227	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	29 25	Wellington Wellington	1 week 4 years	St Pauls Cathedral, Thorndon	91/3133		21 December 1891	Rev. F. W. Walker
369	22 December 1891	George Robert Cornford Elizabeth Hannah Reay	George Robert Cornford Elizabeth Hannah Reay 💍 1891/2216	Bachelor Spinster	Brick Dealer	22 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 years	House of Mrs Ben Lush, Taranaki Road	91/3145		22 December 1891	Rev. C. H. Laws
370	22 December 1891	Ernest Edward Goar Mary Amelia Cottle	Ernest Edward Goss Mary Amelia Cottle 💍 1892/410	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Upper Belmont Upper Belmont	4 years 4 years	Episcopalian Church, Lower Hutt	91/354	Charles Cottle, Father	22 December 1891	Rev. Joshua Jones
371	22 December 1891	Charles Shakeham Margaret Jackson	Charles Makehan Margaret Jackson 💍 1891/2798	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 22	Wellington Wellington	5 months 5 days	St Johns Church	91/3720		22 December 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
372	22 December 1891	Philip Nathan Jessie Rachel Levy	Philip Nathan Jessie Rachel Levy 💍 1892/408	Bachelor Spinster	Surf Commission Agent	26 20	Wellington Wellington	4 months 4 years	Jewish Synagogue	91/352	No relation in Colony	5 January 1892	Rev. H. van Staveren
373	23 December 1891	Frank Wills Scott Ellen Elizabeth Sinclair	Frank Wells Scott Ellen Elizabeth Sinclair 💍 1891/2816	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	20 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mrs Sinclair, Vivian Street	91/3722		23 December 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
374	24 December 1891	Richard Mathew Lawrence Bessie Pellen	Richard Matthew Lawrence Bessie Dillon 💍 1891/2254	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	31 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 15 months	St Peters Church	91/3159		24 December 1891	Rev. W. C. Waters
375	24 December 1891	Robert Home Hopkirk Jane Kiaston Barron	Robert Horne Hopkirk Jane Kirston Barron 💍 1891/2817	Bachelor Spinster	Hemp Scutcher	28 24	Wellington Wellington	10 days 4 years	St Johns Church	91/3723		24 December 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
376	24 December 1891	Thomas Arthur Gaffney (commonly known as Kothey) Esther Stace	Thomas Arthur Gafney Esther Stace 💍 1891/2273	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	26 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr Phelp, Webb Street	91/3154		24 December 1891	Rev. G. J. Lewis
377	24 December 1891	James Phillips Harriet Lyfe	James Phillips Harriet Lyte 💍 1891/2546	Bachelor Spinster	Sugar Boiler	39 26	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks 7 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	91/3182		24 December 1891	W. Shiyan
378	24 December 1891	Alexander Grigg Victoria Fuller	Alexander Grigg Victoria Fuller 💍 1891/2243	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	26 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 days	St Marks Church	91/3122		24 December 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
379	28 December 1891	Robert Arthur Scrivener Helen Bacon Speed	Robert Arthur Scrivener Helen Barron Speed 💍 1891/2809	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	26 22	Wellington Wellington	1 week 4 years	House of Mrs Speed, Princes Street	91/3721		28 December 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
380	29 December 1891	Walter John Rowe Rose Agatha Morley	Wallace John Rowe Kate Agatha Morley 💍 1891/2208	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial	29 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of the Rev. W. Kirk, Lower Hutt	91/3138		29 December 1891	Rev. W. Kirk

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).