Intentions to Marry, 1893

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840405, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025.

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

Page 181

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1893

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1	4 January 1893	Francis Henri Porter Ellen Glover	Francois Henri Porter Ellen Glover 💍 1893/1174	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Rev. John Grew, Taranaki St.	93/398	4 January 1893	Rev. J. J. Lewis
2	4 January 1893	George Glover Emily Jones	George Glover Emily Toms 💍 1893/1134	Widower Widow	Contractor	47 44	Wellington Wellington	14 days 14 days	Registrar's office, Wellington	93/419	4 January 1893	W. T. Wyatt
3	4 January 1893	Henry Beer Mary Georgina Tanner	Henry Beer Mary Georgina Fairless 💍 1893/1135	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 23	Wellington Wellington	11 days 11 days	Registrar's office, Wellington	93/420	4 January 1893	W. T. Wyatt
4	4 January 1893	Almen Clement Elizabeth Comment	Almon Clement Elizabeth Cornwall 💍 1893/1114	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 21	Wellington Wellington	4 weeks 4 weeks	Registrar's office, Wellington	93/423	4 January 1893	W. T. Wyatt
5	4 January 1893	Daniel Pryde Annie Henderson Johnson		Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	32 34	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Rev. C. Dallaston	93/366	4 January 1893	Rev. C. Dallaston
6	4 January 1893	George Allen Louisa Line	George Allen Louisa Line 💍 1893/1169	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 26	Wellington Wellington	14 days 14 days	House of Rev. C. Allen	93/394	4 January 1893	W. T. Wyatt
7	4 January 1893	Joseph William Holdaway Jessie Gordon	Joseph William Holdcroft Jessie Coulson 💍 1893/1136	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	32 24	Wellington Wellington	5 weeks 1 month	Registrar's office, Wellington	93/421	4 January 1893	W. T. Wyatt
8	4 January 1893	Alfred William Dance Harriet Perry	Alfred William Duncan Harriet Perry 💍 1893/1113	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 18	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's office, Wellington	93/422	4 January 1893	W. T. Wyatt
9	5 January 1893	William John Berry Charlotte Jessie Chance	William John Berry Charlotte Jessie Maude Fletcher 💍 1893/1178	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	23 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 years	St. Charles Church	93/379	5 January 1893	Rev. R. Coffey
10	5 January 1893	Joseph Capel Ireland Annie Elizabeth Hollis	Joseph Capey Hulme Annie Elizabeth Hollis 💍 1893/1175	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 29	Wellington Wellington	4 days 5 days	House of Rev. J. J. Lewis, Bingham St.	93/399	5 January 1893	Rev. J. J. Lewis
11	6 January 1893	Ernest Frederick Jones Blanche Beatrice Burd	Ernest Broderick Jones Blanche Beatrice Burt 💍 1893/1172	Bachelor Spinster	School Teacher	25 24	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	House of Rev. W. Carmell, Robert St., Lower Hutt	93/396	6 January 1893	Rev. W. Carmell
12	6 January 1893	Frank Stanley Allen Mary Graham Koch	Frank Stanton Allen Mary Graham Kosh 💍 1893/985	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	29 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Andrew's Church, Terrace	93/359	6 January 1893	Rev. C. J. Ogg
13	6 January 1893	William Moore Emily Finlay	William Davis Emily Finlay 💍 1893/1626	Bachelor Spinster	Shipwright	21 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's office, Wellington	93/425	6 January 1893	W. T. Wyatt
14	7 January 1893	Arthur Louis Cope Ellen Hutchings	Arthur Louis Cooper Ellen Hutchings 💍 1893/1018	Bachelor Widow	Coachsmith	34 40	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Rev. J. G. Chapman, Hutchinson St.	93/408	7 January 1893	Rev. J. G. Chapman
15	7 January 1893	Walter Smallbone Elizabeth Munro	Walter Smallbone Elizabeth Munro 💍 1893/1179	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	30 24	Wellington Wellington	4 months 3 days	St. Charles Church	93/380	7 January 1893	Rev. R. Coffey

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).