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 1431

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
403	20 December 1893	John Brown Hopkirk Emily Gertrude Pilcher	John Brown Hopkirk Emily Gertrude Pilcher 💍 1893/3179	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	26 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Home of Rev. Justin	93/3410		20 December 1893	Rev. J. Paterson
404	20 December 1893	Laurence Patrick Davis Bridget Agnes Sheeley	Lawrence Patrick Davis Bridget Agnes Sheehy 💍 1893/3326	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	93/3379		20 December 1893	Rev. T. Dawson
405	20 December 1893	Frederick Bengo Amy Annie Thomson	Frederick Benge Amy Annie Thomson 💍 1893/3887	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	Hungaroa Upper Hutt	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	93/3433	John Thomson, Father	20 December 1893	W. T. Wyall
406	20 December 1893	Walter Henry Hewson Annie There	Walter Henry Hewson Annie Thore 💍 1893/3888	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	25 17	Petone Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	93/3434	Grace Barty, Mother	20 December 1893	W. T. Wyall
407	20 December 1893	Alexander Bevan Rebecca Bevan	Alexander McInnes Rebecca Bevan 💍 1893/3901	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	26 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	93/3371		20 December 1893	Rev. W. E. Waters
408	21 December 1893	Edward Payne Edith Warren	Edward Payne Edith Warnes 💍 1893/3549	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	19 22	Wellington Wellington	2 days 1 year	House of Mr. W. Herberts, Milward Street	93/3860	William Henry Payne, Guardian	21 December 1893	Rev. C. E. Ward
409	21 December 1893	William Lush Eva Barker	William Lilt Eva Barker 💍 1893/644	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey	23 23	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrars office, Wellington	93/3436		21 December 1893	W. T. Wyall
410	21 December 1893	Joshua Dixon Jane Castle	Joshua Dixon Jane Castle 💍 1893/3550	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Castle, Readiford Street	93/3861		21 December 1893	Rev. C. E. Ward
411	22 December 1893	William Lucena Christina Major	William Daniel Munro Christina McKay 💍 1893/2425	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	29 16	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	St. Marks Church	93/3383	George Henry Kebbell, Father	22 December 1893	Rev. R. Coffey
412	22 December 1893	Charles Jeffries Alice McIntosh	Charles McGlone Alice McIntosh 💍 1893/645	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	25 25	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrars office, Wellington	93/3437		22 December 1893	W. T. Wyall
413	27 December 1893	Robert Cunningham Isabella Cole	Robert Cunningham Isabella Cole 💍 1893/3551	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	39 29	Wellington Wellington	4 days 14 days	House of Mr. Landers, Hopper Street	93/3862		27 December 1893	Rev. C. E. Ward
414	27 December 1893	Arthur Edwin Tasker Rose Emily Kenney	Arthur Edwin Tasker Rose Emily Kenney 💍 1893/3321	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 days 14 days	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	93/3394		27 December 1893	Rev. J. F. Levis
415	27 December 1893	James Johnston Hay Mary Henrietta Kingstone	James Johnstone Hay Mary Henrietta Kingston 💍 1893/3598	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	21 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 days	House of Mr. Kingstone, Wellington Terrace	93/3889		27 December 1893	Rev. C. S. Ogg
416	27 December 1893	William Jenson Mary Ann Pearman	William Jenson Mary Ann Pearman 💍 1893/3316	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	23 21	Wellington Featherston	years years	House of Mr. Pearman, Martin Square	93/3390		27 December 1893	Rev. Alfred Peters
417	27 December 1893	John Henry Pagn Mary Ethel Duff	John Henry Pagni Mary Ethel Duff 💍 1893/3501	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	28 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	93/3910	Letitia Duff, Mother	27 December 1893	Rev. J. H. Sprott

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).