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 253

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
306	21 October 1891	Walter Sargent Shadbolt Ellen Georgia Thompson	Walter Sergent Shadbolt Ellan Georgina Thompson 💍 1891/2252	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr Shadbolt, Owen Street	91/3108		21 October 1891	Revd W. Shirer
307	23 October 1891	Arthur Greenfield Lydia Sick	Arthur Greenfield Lydia Silk 💍 1891/2211	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Baptist Church, Vivian Street	91/3141		23 October 1891	Revd C. Dallaston
308	27 October 1891	Frank Michael Richards Isabella Mary McIntyre	Frank Michael Richards Isabella Mary McIntyre 💍 1891/2266	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr McIntyre, Tory Street	91/3170		27 October 1891	Revd J.K. Elliott
309	29 October 1891	John William Robinson Margaret McGregor	John William Robinson Margaret McGregor 💍 1891/2240	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Mark's Church	91/3119		29 October 1891	Revd R. Coffey
310	29 October 1891	John Fleming Ethel Sarah Reay	John Fleming Ethel Sarah Reay 💍 1891/2263	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 22	Wellington Wellington	4 months 3 months	House of Mr Dalrymple, Oriental Bay	91/3168		29 October 1891	Revd J.K. Elliott
311	31 October 1891	William Dixon Alice Turndell	William Dixon Alice Twindell 💍 1891/2269 William Dixon Eliza Paterson Walls 💍 1892/818	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	21 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/3173	Mary Turndell, mother	31 October 1891	W. Dwyall
312	2 November 1891	Arthur Charles Breadfield Mary McBride	Arthur Charles Bradfield Mary McIlvride 💍 1891/2235	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	29 20	Petone Lower Hutt	years years	Home of Mr Tennessee, Lower Hutt	91/3115	George Mc Bride, father	2 November 1891	Revd J.W. Hope
313	2 November 1891	Thomas William Vernon Barbara Smellgrove	Thomas William Vernon Barbara Snellgrove 💍 1891/2229	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	23 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mrs Smellgrove, Upper Willis Street	91/3109		2 November 1891	Revd W. Shirer
314	4 November 1891	William Shannon Mary Ann Williamson	William Shannon Mary Ann Williamson 💍 1891/2209	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mrs Williamson, Adelaide Road	91/3139		4 November 1891	Revd W.H. Beck
315	4 November 1891	Michael Kennedy Alice Louise Hardham	Michael Kennedy Alice Louise Hardham 💍 1891/2210	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger	24 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mrs Hardham, Brown Street	91/3140		4 November 1891	Revd W.H. Beck
316	5 November 1891	Archibald Henley Catherine Ingram Russell	Archibald Henley Catherine Ingram Russell 💍 1891/2265	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Bridegroom, College Terrace	91/3169		5 November 1891	Revd J.K. Elliott
317	6 November 1891	William Henry Homes Catherine Jones	William Henry Homer Catherine Jones 💍 1891/2270	Bachelor Widow	Ironfounder	43 53	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/3174		6 November 1891	W. Dwyall
318	7 November 1891	John Pegg Read Jeanette Chilton	John Pegg Mead Janetta Chilton 💍 1891/2220	Bachelor Widow	N.Z. Permanent Artillery	35 27	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	Home of Mrs Kinnear, Willis Street	91/3149		7 November 1891	Revd J.J. Lewis
319	10 November 1891	John Lloyd Elizabeth Duffy	John Lloyd Elizabeth Duffy 💍 1891/2204	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	24 21	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	St Peter's Church	91/3134		10 November 1891	Revd W.C. Waters
320	10 November 1891	Louis Isaac Levy Hannah Moss	Lewis Isaac Levy Hannah Moss 💍 1891/2848	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	37 29	Wellington Wellington	5 days 1 month	Jewish Synagogue, Terrace	91/3795		10 November 1891	Revd H. Van Staveren

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).