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 1388

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
46	18 February 1891	Percival Frederick George Annie Gladys Tabor	Percival Frederick George Mumford Annie Gladys Tabor 💍 1891/3490	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	Karni Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	91/385		18 February 1891	Mr. I. Wyatt
47	18 February 1891	Arthur John Johnson Margaret Selina Betts	Arthur John Johnson Margaret Selina Osborne 💍 1891/3468	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	91/386		18 February 1891	Mr. I. Wyatt
48	18 February 1891	Thomas Doig Annie Chart	Thomas Doig Annie Short 💍 1891/3455	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 24	Brooklyn Brooklyn	years years	House of Mr. Doig Brooklyn	91/297		18 February 1891	Rev. H. B. Reastone
49	24 February 1891	Arthur Joseph Belworthy Amelia Cooper	Arthur Joseph Belworthy Amelia Couper 💍 1891/3073	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 22	Wellington Wellington	years 5 days	House of Mr. Belworthy Horner Street	91/310		24 February 1891	Rev. Wm. Shirer
50	24 February 1891	William Perry Margaret Jane Briason	William Perry Margaret Jane Bridson 💍 1891/46	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr. Briason Adelaide Road	91/341		24 February 1891	Rev. W. H. Beck
51	24 February 1891	John Lovell Mary Rudman	John Lerwill Mary Rudman 💍 1891/3151	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Rudman Kent Terrace	91/362		24 February 1891	Josiah P. Taylor
52	24 February 1891	William Newton Betsy Hancox	William Newton Betsy Hancox 💍 1891/47	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Hancox Taranaki Street	91/342		24 February 1891	Rev. W. H. Beck
53	24 February 1891	Edward William Smyth Amy Grace Soomath	Edward William Smyth Amy Grace Toomath 💍 1891/45	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 22	Karori Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	91/340		24 February 1891	Rev. John Still
54	24 February 1891	Francis Samuel Jane Sonks	Francis Fauvel Jane Tonks 💍 1891/48	Widower Spinster	Accountant	36 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr. Enoch Sonks Webb Street	91/343		24 February 1891	Rev. W. H. Beck
55	25 February 1891	Stewart Hampden Speer Janet Stewart McNair	Stewart Hampden Spiers Janet Stewart McNair 💍 1891/3173	Bachelor Spinster	Warder	29 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace	91/360		25 February 1891	Rev. J. K. Elliot
56	26 February 1891	Richard Harrison Guile Eleanor Woodburn	Richard Harrison Gaskell Eleanor Woodburn 💍 1891/3070	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	35 45	Wellington Wellington	6 months 2 years	St. Marks Church	91/307		26 February 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
57	27 February 1891	John Joseph Booth Jane de Castro	John Joseph Booth Jane de Castro 💍 1891/3069	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	29 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	91/306		27 February 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
58	28 February 1891	James Smith Fletcher Annie Elizabeth Smith	James Smith Fletcher Annie Elizabeth Smith 💍 1891/3171	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Smith Taranaki Road	91/358		28 February 1891	Rev. H. Williams
59	2 March 1891	Thomas Jacques Thompson Rose Elizabeth Matthews	Thomas Jaynes Thompson Rose Elizabeth Matthews 💍 1891/55	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	20 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Matthews Brougham Street	91/349	Amelia Thomas, mother	2 March 1891	Rev. W. Powell
60	3 March 1891	Frederick Balchin Emma Block	Frederick Balchin Emma Black 💍 1891/3456	Widower Widow	Labourer	42 38	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr. Jacobson Ghuznee Street	91/298		3 March 1891	Rev. H. B. Reastone

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).