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 626

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
255	28 August 1891	Albert Victor James Lockie Ann Isabel Harfield	Albert Victor James Lockie Ann Isabel Hatfield 💍 1891/1373	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	27 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 6 weeks	St Peters Church	91/2267		28 August 1891	Rev. W. C. Waters
256	31 August 1891	Walter James Bass Jane Carver	Walter James Bass Jane Carver 💍 1891/1341	Widower Spinster	Bricklayer	31 24	Wellington Wellington	4 weeks years	Church	91/2236		31 August 1891	Rev. K. Coffey
257	31 August 1891	William Alfred Maddews Julia Jarre	William Alfred Matthews Julia Sarre 💍 1891/1332	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	43 37	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Maddews	91/2249		31 August 1891	Mr. A. J. Turner
258	31 August 1891	William Henry Sutton Laura Elizabeth Blunder		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Peters Church	91/2268		31 August 1891	Rev. W. C. Waters
259	31 August 1891	Charles William Hall Lilian Palethorpe	Charles William Wall Lilian Palethorpe 💍 1891/1323	Widower Spinster	Torpedo man	32 20	Wellington Kilbirnie	years years	House of Mr. Palethorpe, Kilbirnie	91/2241	Father	31 August 1891	Rev. J. K. Elliott
260	1 September 1891	Henry Greenfield Alice Mary Reid	Henry Greenfield Alice Mary Reid 💍 1891/1389	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	The Wesley Parsonage, Taranaki Street	91/2259		1 September 1891	Rev. J. J. Lewis
261	1 September 1891	John Earley Louisa Elizabeth Grace		Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	33 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Mary's Cathedral	91/2217		1 September 1891	Very Rev. J. Mc Namara
262	1 September 1891	William Alfred Grace Elizabeth Mary Baylis	William Alfred Short Elizabeth Mary Baylis 💍 1891/1366	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street	91/2211		1 September 1891	Rev. E. S. Ward
263	2 September 1891	Edward Alfred France Annie Livie Cleland		Bachelor Widow	Farmer	25 24	Wellington Wellington	1 week 2 months	Home of Bride, Canterbury Place	91/2260		2 September 1891	Rev. J. J. Lewis
264	4 September 1891	Harry De Galle Lane Jane Madeline Hartinam	Harry De Galle Lewis Fowler Jane Madeline Sophie Hartmann 💍 1891/1328	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	30 24	Wellington Karori	4 days years	Episcopalian Church, Karori	91/2246	Elizabeth Reckins, Mother	4 September 1891	Rev. A. C. Hazard
265	4 September 1891	Henry Bryant Mary Ann Johnston	Henry Bryant Mary Ann Rickard 💍 1891/1358	Widower Spinster	Farmer	36 19	Chatham Chatham	years 4 months	Home of Bridegroom	91/2226	Charles, Mother	4 September 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
266	5 September 1891	John Lewis Rice Alice Letitia Jones	John Louis Rees Alice Letitia Jones 💍 1891/1365	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	26 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr. Lilley, Ingestre Street	91/2210		5 September 1891	Rev. E. S. Ward
267	5 September 1891	Arthur Bread Rowlands Eva Hannah Kell	Arthur Broad Rowlands Rose Hannah Wells 💍 1891/1933	Bachelor Spinster	Salvationist	28 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Salvation Army Barracks, Taranaki Street	91/2775		5 September 1891	Charles Robinson
268	8 September 1891	John Jacob Rhoda Ruth Feist	John Jacobson Rhoda Ruth Feist 💍 1891/1324	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter	32 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr. Feist, Ingestre Street	91/2242		8 September 1891	Rev. J. K. Elliott
269	10 September 1891	Charles Seddon Mary Collins	Charles Scotchmer Godber Mary Collins 💍 1891/1334	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Baptist Church, Vivian Street	91/2252		10 September 1891	Rev. C. Dallaston

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).