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 1429

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
374	14 December 1893	Angus McLean Janet Peat Couper	Angus McMillan Janet Peat Couper 💍 1893/3155	Widower Spinster	Engineer	41 21	Wellington Wellington	2 days years	House of Mr Couper	93/3365		14 December 1893	Rev W. Shirer
375	14 December 1893	Walter George Robert Mary Ann Murray	Walter George Robson Mary Ann Murray 💍 1893/3176	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	24 22	Ngahamanga Kaiwarra	years years	House of Mr Murray Kaiwarra	93/3397		14 December 1893	Rev R. J. Lunnay
376	14 December 1893	Robert Speilar Laura Armstrong	Robert Spittal Anorah Armstrong 💍 1893/3548	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 21	Wellington Courtney Place	years years	House of Mr Fletcher Courtney Place	93/3859		14 December 1893	Rev C. E. Ward
377	14 December 1893	John McWhirter Edith Ellen Selman	John McWhirter Edith Ellen Selman Alloway 💍 1893/3546	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	20 20	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mr G. McWhirter Petone	93/3857	G. McWhirter Father, A. Alloway Father	14 December 1893	Rev A. Thomson
378	14 December 1893	Herbert Spackman Clara Daisy Goold	Herbert Spademan Clara Daisy Goold 💍 1893/3497	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 28	Wellington Wellington	1 year 4 days	St Pauls Cathedral	93/3906		14 December 1893	Rev W. H. Sprott
379	14 December 1893	William Henry Nelson Mary Violet Grant	William Henry Nelson Mary Violet Grant 💍 1893/3327	Widower Spinster	Freezing Works Manager	27 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Marks Church	93/3380		14 December 1893	Rev R. Coffey
380	14 December 1893	Thomas Burns Georgina Elizabeth Hale	Thomas Burns Georgina Elizabeth Dale 💍 1893/649	Widower Spinster	Sailmaker	42 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	93/3427		14 December 1893	W. T. Wyatt
381	14 December 1893	Alfred Elphick Catherine Cotton Hudgeons	Alfred Elphick Catherine Lotton Mudgway 💍 1893/650	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	22 21	Wellington Wellington	7 months 1 week	Registrars office Wellington	93/3428		14 December 1893	W. T. Wyatt
382	15 December 1893	Henry George Lockett Ada Florence Harrowly	Henry George Lockett Ada Florence Harrowby 💍 1893/3165	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	31 21	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mr Harrowly Lower Hutt	93/3354		15 December 1893	Rev T. G. Carr
383	15 December 1893	Thomas Henry Morrison Ethel Sarah Fleming	Thomas Henry Morrison Ethel Sarah Fleming 💍 1893/3328	Bachelor Widow	Optician	26 24	Wellington Wellington	1 year 2 years	St Marks Church	93/3381		15 December 1893	Rev R. Coffey
384	17 December 1893	Henry Granjus Mary Sarah Mercy	Henry Granjux Mercy Mary Sarah Wilson 💍 1893/3500	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	29 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 2 years	St Pauls Cathedral	93/3909		17 December 1893	Rev J. H. Sprott
385	18 December 1893	Charles Woolhouse Elizabeth Adams	Charles Woolhouse Elizabeth Adams 💍 1893/3900	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	20 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Peters Church	93/3370		18 December 1893	Rev W. E. Waters
386	18 December 1893	Frederick Jaunass Maria Rex	Frederick Saunders Maria Rix 💍 1893/3322	Bachelor Spinster	Salvation Army Officer	24 20	Wellington Taranaki Street	4 days years	Salvation Army Dannevirke	93/3395		18 December 1893	Mr J. Vines
387	18 December 1893	George Shand Ferguson Annie Duncan Nelson	George Shand Ferguson Annie Duncan Nelson 💍 1893/3597	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 24	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	St Andrews Church	93/3888		18 December 1893	Revd L. I. Edge
388	18 December 1893	Arthur William George Firth Emily Victoria Cossey	Arthur William George Firth Emily Victoria Cossey 💍 1893/651	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	22 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	93/3429	Edward Cossey Father	18 December 1893	W. T. Wyatt

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 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).