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 1457

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1891 Registrar J. Hornes

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

17 January 1891

William Strange
Sarah Ann McCollum

William Strange
Sarah Ann McCollum
💍 1891/3838

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

22
18

Hope Creek Thames
Hope Creek Thames

22 years
18 years Waitangirua

The Dwelling of Alexander Hill, Louides St.

91/184

Sarah McCollum, mother

17 January 1891

Rev. Wm Keall, Wesleyan

No	59
Date of Notice	17 January 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Strange	Sarah Ann McCollum
	💍 1891/3838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Hope Creek Thames	Hope Creek Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years Waitangirua
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Alexander Hill, Louides St.
Folio	91/184
Consent	Sarah McCollum, mother
Date of Certificate	17 January 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Keall, Wesleyan

21 January 1891

Archibald Buchanan
Edith Mary Adams

Archibald Buchanan
Edith Mary Adams
💍 1891/3841

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
None

30
22

Devonport Auckland
Baillie St Thames

20 years
10 years Thames

St George's Church, Mackay St

91/186

21 January 1891

Rev. Joseph Bates, Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	21 January 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Buchanan	Edith Mary Adams
	💍 1891/3841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	None
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Devonport Auckland	Baillie St Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years Thames
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Mackay St
Folio	91/186
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Bates, Church of England

13 February 1891

James John Jack
Annie Jane Smith

James John Jack
Annie Jane Smith
💍 1891/3842

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
None

25
22

Thames
Thames

3 weeks
22 years Thames

St George's Church, Mackay St

91/187

13 February 1891

Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., Church of England

No	61
Date of Notice	13 February 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Jack	Annie Jane Smith
	💍 1891/3842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	None
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 weeks	22 years Thames
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Mackay St
Folio	91/187
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., Church of England

2 March 1891

Francis Keoghan
Margaret Ellen Osborne

Francis Keoghan
Margaret Ellen Osborne
💍 1891/3837

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

23
19

Pollen St Thames
Pollen St Thames

20 years
3 months Thames

St Francis' Church, Willoughby St

91/183

Elizabeth E. Osborne, mother

31 March 1891

Rev. P O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	62
Date of Notice	2 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Keoghan	Margaret Ellen Osborne
	💍 1891/3837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Pollen St Thames	Pollen St Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	3 months Thames
Marriage Place	St Francis' Church, Willoughby St
Folio	91/183
Consent	Elizabeth E. Osborne, mother
Date of Certificate	31 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. P O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

6 March 1891

Arthur Martin Hunter
Clara Ratcliffe

Arthur Martin
Clara Ratcliffe Hunter
💍 1891/2876

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Music Teacher

26
22

Mary St Thames
Pollen St Thames

20 years
18 years Waitangirua

The Dwelling of Rev. J.J. Neile, Rolleston Terrace

91/180

6 March 1891

Rev. J.J. Neile, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	6 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Martin Hunter	Clara Ratcliffe
BDM Match (67%)	Arthur Martin	Clara Ratcliffe Hunter
	💍 1891/2876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Music Teacher
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Mary St Thames	Pollen St Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years Waitangirua
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Rev. J.J. Neile, Rolleston Terrace
Folio	91/180
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.J. Neile, Presbyterian

16 March 1891

John Fenton
Eliza Daykin

John Fenton
Eliza Daykin
💍 1891/3843

Bachelor
Spinster

Superintendent of Newton Fire Brigade
None

27
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days Thames

St George's Church, Mackay St, Thames

91/188

16 March 1891

Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., Church of England

No	64
Date of Notice	16 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fenton	Eliza Daykin
	💍 1891/3843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Superintendent of Newton Fire Brigade	None
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days Thames
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	91/188
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., Church of England

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).