Intentions to Marry, 1892

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840404, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

Page 756

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1892

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
296	18 July 1892	Harold Nicholas Melnotte Hope Mary Jane Wood	Harold Rudolph Nelson Mary Ann Wood 💍 1892/1968 Thomas Ryan Mary Jane Wood 💍 1892/1127	Bachelor Spinster	riaken	20 20	Newmarket Remuera	20 years 20 years	Church of St Mark	92/2049	Thomas Wood, Father	19 July 1892	Rev. J. Richards, Ch of England
297	19 July 1892	Thomas Henry Rowe Adelaide Annie Louise Frost	Thomas Henry Rowe Adelaide Annie Louise Frost 💍 1892/1997	Bachelor Spinster	Stockman	27 21	Whakatane Whakatane	4 years 9 years	Registrar's Office	92/2106	J. Owen Lord, Regr	19 July 1892	J. Owen Lord, Regr
298	19 July 1892	William John Barrington Paine Minnie Constance Busley	William John Harrington Paine Minnie Constance Burley 💍 1892/1998	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	29 21	Auckland Auckland		The Registrar's Office	92/2107		19 July 1892	J. Owen Lord, Regr
299	19 July 1892	John William Noble Rose May Butter	John William Noble Rose Mary Butler 💍 1892/2344	Bachelor Spinster	Boat Builder	22 20	Mercury Bay Auckland	1 year 20 years	St Patrick's Cathedral	92/2443		3 August 1892	Rev. J. Hackett, R.C. Catholic
300	20 July 1892	Edward Phillips Turner Irene Ada Pirie	Edward Phillips Turner Irene Ada Pirie 💍 1892/1928	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	26 20	Whakatane Remuera	18 months 4 years	Church of St Mark	92/2050	Thomas Pirie, Father	20 July 1892	Rev. J. Richards, Ch of England
301	20 July 1892	James Spencer Lawry Florence Mabel Battley	Thomas Spencer Lawry Florence Mabel Battley 💍 1892/2013	Bachelor M.R.C.S. Spinster		35 25	Auckland Mt Albert	7 years 25 years	Wesleyan Church	92/2095		20 July 1892	Rev. W. S. Lawry, Wesleyan
302	20 July 1892	John Joseph Bishop Emily Warman	John Joseph Bishop Emily Surman 💍 1892/2000	Bachelor Spinster	Setter	27 18	Titirangi New Lynn	7 years 7 years	Thomas Warman's Dwelling	92/2075	Thomas Warman, Father	20 July 1892	Rev. C. Morby, Presbyterian
303	20 July 1892	Andrew Solomon Richardson Mary Ann Sullivan	Andrew Polson May Ann Sullivan 💍 1892/1946	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	43 39	St. North Rd St. North Rd	15 years 6 years	The Epiphany Church	92/2052		20 July 1892	Rev. M. E. Lush, Ch of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).