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 1071

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
91	1 April 1892	Jessie Woodward Jessie Woodward		Bachelor Spinster	Steward	26 22	Wellington Do	years Do	House of Mrs W. Wilson, Martin Street	92/1289		1 April 1892	Rev G. K. Elliot
92	1 April 1892	George Honey Bullard Sarah Donaldson Cunningham	George Morey Bullard Sarah Donaldson Cunningham 💍 1892/1199	Bachelor Spinster	Manager	24 26	Wellington Do	years Do	House of Mrs F. Rod, Adelaide Road	92/1269		1 April 1892	Rev W. H. Beck
93	1 April 1892	James McLachlan Mary Neill	James McLachlan Mary Neill 💍 1892/1130	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	26 27	Wellington Do	1 year years	House of Rev J. K. Elliot, Oriental Bay	92/1291		1 April 1892	Rev G. K. Elliot
94	1 April 1892	Edward John Standen Amelia Church	Edward John Standen Amelia Church 💍 1892/1279	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	19 19	Wellington Do	years Do	House of Mr W. Church, Normanby Street	92/1230	William Standen, father	1 April 1892	Rev W. C. Wood
95	2 April 1892	Edward Percy Bunny Brunetta Lucia Simmons	Edmund Percy Bunny Brunetta Lucia Cimino 💍 1892/1281	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	27 22	Wellington Do	years Do	St Marys Cathedral, Hill Street	92/1232		2 April 1892	Most Rev Archbishop Redwood
96	4 April 1892	George Frank Smith Lilian Reed	George Frank Smith Lillian Beel 💍 1892/3913	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	34 21	Wellington Do	years Do	Registrars Office, Wellington	92/1295		4 April 1892	W. T. Wyatt
97	5 April 1892	William Crother Frances Mandle Taylor	William Pinder Mary Jane Taylor 💍 1892/1035	Widower Widow	Chemist	41 30	Wellington Do	years Do	St Marks Church	92/1252		5 April 1892	Rev R. Coffey
98	5 April 1892	John Beall Watson Constance Ann Jane Ballam	John Bell Watson Constance Ann Jane Ballam 💍 1892/1207	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	24 20	Wellington Do	15 months years	St Marks Church	92/1254	Constance Ballam, mother	5 April 1892	Rev R. Coffey
99	5 April 1892	Robert Pringle Agnes Selina Wilson Greig	Robert Pringle Agnes Selina Wilson Greig 💍 1892/1094	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 18	Wellington Do	18 months years	St Johns Church	92/1223	Agnes Lanella Greig, mother	5 April 1892	Rev J. Paterson
100	7 April 1892	James Griffin Margaret Waldron	James Griffin Margaret Waldron 💍 1892/1280	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Wellington Do	years Do	St Marys Cathedral	92/1231		7 April 1892	Very Rev F. McNamee
101	8 April 1892	William Henry Lawrence Marion Rutherford	William Harvey Laurence Galwey Mariri Rutherford 💍 1892/1206	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	31 32	Wellington Do	3 days 1 year	St Marks Church	92/1253		8 April 1892	Rev R. Coffey
102	9 April 1892	Wallace George Lawrence Ann Gertrude Cush	Wallace George Laurence Ann Gertrude Cush 💍 1892/3915	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 19	Wellington Do	years Do	Registrars Office, Wellington	92/1297	Mary Ann Hamilton, mother	9 April 1892	W. T. Wyatt
103	11 April 1892	Alfred Burling Marion Smith Davidson	Alfred Burling Marion Smith Davidson 💍 1892/3916	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	22 19	Wellington Do	3 days 1 year	Registrars Office, Wellington	92/1298	John Davidson, father	11 April 1892	W. T. Wyatt
104	12 April 1892	Arthur Albert Edward Thorney Ellen Kate De Roode	Arthur Albert Edward Everitt Ellen Kate De Borde 💍 1892/1134	Bachelor Spinster	Picture Framer	25 20	Wellington Do	years Do	St Peters Church	92/1277	Sarah Thorney, mother	12 April 1892	Rev W. C. Waters
105	12 April 1892	Albert Evan Reeves Constance Wills	Albert Evans Redvers Bybles Constance Wills 💍 1892/1133	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	47 26	Wellington Do	years Do	St Peters Church	92/1276		12 April 1892	Rev W. C. Waters

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).