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 973

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
245	27 July 1893	Charles Rolston Martha Gnam	Charles Rolston Martha Jane Goodin 💍 1893/2188	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	21 21	Pahautanui Lower Hutt	years months	Anglican Church	93/2296		27 July 1893	Rev. G. N. Blake
246	31 July 1893	Francis Thomas Clarke Georgina Manthel	Francis Thomas Clarke Georgina Manthel 💍 1893/2220	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 25	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	Home of Mr Manthel, Inglewood	93/2408		31 July 1893	Rev. J. Lewis
247	31 July 1893	John Peter Englebretsen Florence Elizabeth Fordham	John Peter Englebretson Florence Elizabeth Fordham 💍 1893/2873	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Fordham, Inglewood	93/2975		31 July 1893	Rev. J. Paterson
248	3 August 1893	William E. O'Connell Sarah Emma Eagle	William O'Connell Sarah Hannah Eagle 💍 1893/2208	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	35 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	93/2397	William Fergus Eagle, Father	3 August 1893	Rev. John Lane
249	7 August 1893	Ernest Henry Griffith Elsie Hughena Brown	Ernest Henry Griffith Elsie Hughina Brown 💍 1893/2511	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	22 19	Wellington Wellington	2 months Days	House of Rev. C. E. Dallaston, Webb Street	93/2410	Thomas Brown, Father	7 August 1893	Rev. C. E. Dallaston
250	7 August 1893	Albert Sergent Shaddick Martha Elizabeth Pine	Albert Sergent Shadbolt Martha Elizabeth Pine 💍 1893/2504	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	30 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of the Sergent Shaddick, Owen Street	93/2421		7 August 1893	Rev. W. Shire
251	7 August 1893	Frank Thomas Wilton Louisa Mainwaring	Frank Thomas Wilton Louisa Mainwaring 💍 1893/2524	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Trinity Church, South Wellington	93/2417	Charles Mainwaring, Father	7 August 1893	Rev. W. H. Beck
252	7 August 1893	William Back Nora O'Sullivan	William Back Norah O'Sullivan 💍 1893/569	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	32 29	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	6 days 5 weeks	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	93/2396		7 August 1893	Rev. John Lane
253	8 August 1893	James Edward Shaw Margaret Thomas	James Edward Shaw Margaret Thornton 💍 1893/2838	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	24 24	Wellington Wellington	6 months [illegible]	House of The Rev. C. E. Ward, Webb Street	93/2888		8 August 1893	Rev. C. E. Ward
254	9 August 1893	Edward Kilminster Susan Human Parmage	Edward Kilminster Susan Hannah Partridge 💍 1893/2236	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	27 22	Taita Taita	3 weeks years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/2375		9 August 1893	Mr. W. T. Wray
255	9 August 1893	Leonard Beecham Annie Corley	Leon Saubain Decleane Annie Corley 💍 1893/2237	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	33 21	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks 3 weeks	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/2376		9 August 1893	Mr. W. T. Wray
256	11 August 1893	Henry Hepperstall Annie Elizabeth Wright	Henry Heppenstall Annie Elizabeth Wright 💍 1893/2215	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks years	Home of Mr Wright, Thompson Street	93/2404		11 August 1893	Mr. R. F. Tenn
257	14 August 1893	James Liddle Herbert Davis		Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	24 23	Greytown Wellington	years months	St Paul's Cathedral	93/2857		14 August 1893	Rev. J. H. Sprott
258	15 August 1893	William White Ellen Rackley	William White Ellen Rackley 💍 1893/2238	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	25 25	Wellington Wellington	4 months 4 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/2377		15 August 1893	Mr. W. T. Wray
259	16 August 1893	Thomas Porterfield Bridget Agnes Corley	Thomas Baxter Scott Bridget Agnes Coady 💍 1893/2516	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	Wellington Wellington	2 days 2 days	St Mary of the Angels	93/2432	Martin Corley, Father	16 August 1893	Very Rev. J. F. McKenna

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).