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 959

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
155	23 May 1891	Arthur Henry Gibson Annie Ellen Gibson	Arthur Henry Gibson Annie Ellen Chew 💍 1891/428	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	29 23	Wellington Crofton	years	Home of Mr Gibson	91/1290		23 May 1891	Revd C. H. Laws
156	23 May 1891	Walter Mark Gough Florence Gough	Walter Mark Exton Florence Gough 💍 1891/481	Bachelor Spinster	String Worker	22 18	Lower Hutt Petone	years	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1321	James Gough, Father	23 May 1891	Mr. W. Wyall
157	26 May 1891	Walter Clunies Ross Mary Ann Merson	Walter Clunie Tully Mary Ann Merson 💍 1891/482	Bachelor Spinster	Cutler	25 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1322		26 May 1891	Mr. W. Wyall
158	26 May 1891	John Smith Hutchinson Jessie Valentine	John Smith Hutchinson Jessie Valentine 💍 1891/425	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 29	Wellington Wellington	years	St Peters Church	91/1287		26 May 1891	Revd W. C. Waters
159	27 May 1891	John Cook Elizabeth Maria Clark	John Cook Elizabeth Rosina Clark 💍 1891/412	Bachelor Spinster	Mason Tender	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years		91/1275	Hannah Maria Clark, Mother	27 May 1891	Revd J. J. Lewis
160	28 May 1891	Augustus John Lethbridge Emma Lander		Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	21 18	Wellington Wellington	10 week years	Home of Mr Lethbridge	91/1244	Michael Lander, Father	28 May 1891	Revd G. E. Edwards
161	1 June 1891	Henry George Brock Mary Ann Fox	Henry George Brooks Mary Ann Fox 💍 1891/430	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Fitter	24 20	Petone Taita	years years	Home of Mr Brock Petone	91/1269	Helen Burns, Mother	1 June 1891	Revd Joshua Jones
162	1 June 1891	Charles Joseph Winchcombe Elizabeth Ruth Harcourt	Charles Joseph Winchester Elizabeth Ruth Harwood 💍 1891/392	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	33 24	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr Parton	91/1255		1 June 1891	Revd Wm Shirer
163	2 June 1891	John Henry Hosking Kathleen Charlotte Edmonds	John Henry Hosking Kathleen Charlotte Elmhirst Reader 💍 1891/395	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Reader	37 20	Wellington Wellington	3 days year	St Pauls Cathedral	91/1258	Mary Elizabeth Edmonds, Mother	2 June 1891	Revd John Still
164	2 June 1891	James Jury Elizabeth Hewlett Smith	James Tarry Elizabeth Hewlett Smith 💍 1891/483 James John Brooks Elizabeth Hammond Smith 💍 1891/3767	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 day	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1323		2 June 1891	Mr. W. Wyall
165	3 June 1891	William McAlley Hannah Samuels	William M Alley Hannah Samuels 💍 1891/2883	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 6 weeks	Home of Mr Samuels	91/1249	Mary Ann Samuels, Mother	3 June 1891	Revd J. Paterson
166	5 June 1891	Thomas Gilligan Ellen Donovan	Thomas McElligott Ellen Donovan 💍 1891/403	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	32 26	Wellington Wellington	years	St Marys Cathedral	91/1265		5 June 1891	Very Revd Father Carmody
167	5 June 1891	James O'Brien Mary Gallagher	James O'Brien Mary Gallagher 💍 1891/419	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	39 32	Wellington Wellington	1 month 3 days	St Marys Presbytery of the Angels	91/1282		5 June 1891	Revd J. Doherty
168	5 June 1891	Thomas Scott Edith Maud Townsend	Thomas Scott Edith Maud Townsend 💍 1891/427	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 18	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Peters Church	91/1289	Frances Townsend, Mother	5 June 1891	Revd W. C. Waters
169	5 June 1891	Thomas Nelson Caroline Ethel Berman	Thomas Hodson Caroline Abel Burman 💍 1891/1929	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	21 18	Wellington Wellington	12 months years	St Marks Church	91/2755	William Edward Berman, Father	5 June 1891	Revd R. Coffey

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).