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 403

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1891 Registrar H. Winstanley

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

18 July 1891

Thomas Philpott
Emily Peach Brown

Thomas Philpott
Emily Peach Brown
💍 1891/1898

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
26

West Plains
Otautau Bush

11 years
4 years

House of Rev. E. Brown

91/2723

18 July 1891

Rev. Joseph Sharp

No	60
Date of Notice	18 July 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Philpott	Emily Peach Brown
	💍 1891/1898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	West Plains	Otautau Bush
Length of Residence	11 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. E. Brown
Folio	91/2723
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Sharp

20 July 1891

George Witheridge
Sarah Grace Turner

George Witheridge
Sarah Grace Turner
💍 1891/1897

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

32
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

7 years
23 years

House of Rev. Joseph Sharp, North St

91/2722

20 July 1891

Rev. Joseph Sharp

No	61
Date of Notice	20 July 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Witheridge	Sarah Grace Turner
	💍 1891/1897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Joseph Sharp, North St
Folio	91/2722
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Sharp

23 July 1891

William Henry Smith
Grace Wilson

William Henry Smith
Grace Wilson
💍 1891/1901

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

22
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

10 years
12 years

House of Rev. W. Smith, Yarrow St

91/2725

23 July 1891

Rev. Robt. Taylor

No	62
Date of Notice	23 July 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Smith	Grace Wilson
	💍 1891/1901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. Smith, Yarrow St
Folio	91/2725
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Taylor

24 July 1891

Frederick Walter Dawson
Ada Harriett Brown

Frederick Walter Dawson
Ada Harriett Brown
💍 1891/1900

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

22
22

Brunswick, East Road
Invercargill

8 years
22 years

Home of Rev. Wm. Brown, East Road

91/2724

24 July 1891

Rev. Joseph Sharp

No	63
Date of Notice	24 July 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Walter Dawson	Ada Harriett Brown
	💍 1891/1900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Brunswick, East Road	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Home of Rev. Wm. Brown, East Road
Folio	91/2724
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Sharp

30 July 1891

Michael Evamine Brown
Rose Edith Beckett

Michael Mannix
Rose Edith Beckett
💍 1891/1893

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman

21
20

South Invercargill
South Invercargill

4 years
15 years

Church of England, Tay St

91/2718

Mary Jane Huide, mother of Rose Edith Beckett

30 July 1891

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker.

No	64
Date of Notice	30 July 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Evamine Brown	Rose Edith Beckett
BDM Match (74%)	Michael Mannix	Rose Edith Beckett
	💍 1891/1893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	South Invercargill	South Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tay St
Folio	91/2718
Consent	Mary Jane Huide, mother of Rose Edith Beckett
Date of Certificate	30 July 1891
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker.

1 August 1891

Donald Macdonald
Hilda Walsh

Donald Macdonald
Hilda Walsh
💍 1891/1894

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

32
23

Edendale
Morton Mains

3 years
18 months

Residence of A. R. Wallis

91/2719

1 August 1891

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	65
Date of Notice	1 August 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Macdonald	Hilda Walsh
	💍 1891/1894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Edendale	Morton Mains
Length of Residence	3 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of A. R. Wallis
Folio	91/2719
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1891
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

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).