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 598

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
149	6 May 1893	Basil Robation Gardener Charlotte Jane Samson	Basil Robertson Gardiner Charlotte Jane Jamson Sutherland 💍 1893/1582	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 19	Wellington Wellington	4 days 3 months	St. Mark's Church	93/1352	Hector Sutherland, Father	6 May 1893	Rev. R. Coffey
150	6 May 1893	Frank Joseph O'Malley Mary Jane Hughes	Marck Joseph O'Malley Mary Jane Hughes 💍 1893/1452	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	14 days 1 month	St. Mary of the Angels	93/1375		6 May 1893	Very Rev. J. O'Reilly
151	8 May 1893	Robert King Ellen Talbot	Robert King Ellen Talbot 💍 1893/1516	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Nicholson, Ohio Road	93/1407		8 May 1893	Rev. J. K. Elliott
152	8 May 1893	Henry Hodgson Redshaw Minnie Louise Allardyce	Henry Hodgson Redshaw Minnie Louise Alldridge 💍 1893/1492	Bachelor Spinster	Crockery Importer	25 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1442	John Allardyce, Father	8 May 1893	W. Twyary
153	8 May 1893	John Frederick Charles McClelland Isabel Victoria Rowe	John Frederick Charles McClelland Mabel Victoria Rae 💍 1893/1639	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. John's Church	93/1415		8 May 1893	Rev. J. Paterson
154	8 May 1893	John Hooper Annie Sinclair Boulton	John Hooper Annie Sinclair Boulton 💍 1893/1640	Widower Spinster	Labourer	28 27	Pahautanui Pahautanui	18 months years	House of Rev. J. Paterson, Woolcombe Street	93/1416		8 May 1893	Rev. J. Paterson
155	9 May 1893	Arthur Lancaster Arabella Bowler	Arthur Lancaster Arabella Bowler 💍 1893/1460	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Karori Makara	years years	St. Matthias Church, Makara	93/1383		9 May 1893	Rev. A. Harding
156	9 May 1893	Herbert Mercer Elsie Maud Mary Howes	Herbert Mercer Elsie Maude Mary Howes 💍 1893/1583	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	93/1353	George Mercer, Father	9 May 1893	Rev. R. Coffey
157	9 May 1893	Frederick Charles Brailsford Mary Lilian Hocking	Frederick Charles Brailsford Mary Lilian Hosking 💍 1893/1457	Widower Spinster	Machinery	42 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Adelaide Road	93/1381		9 May 1893	Rev. W. H. Beck
158	10 May 1893	Thomas Taylor Alice Maud Mary Bennett	Thomas Taylor Alice Maud Mary Bennett 💍 1893/1458	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. J. Taylor, Dixon Street	93/1382		10 May 1893	Rev. John Muir
159	10 May 1893	William Young Sarah Collins	William Young Sarah Collins 💍 1893/1515	Bachelor Spinster	Salvation Army Officer	29 24	Wellington Taranaki Street	3 days years	Salvation Army Barracks	93/1406		10 May 1893	Colonel Bailey
160	10 May 1893	William Arthur Raymond Louisa Kelly	William Arthur Raymond Louisa Kelly 💍 1893/1528	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	26 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Kelly, Lloyd Street	93/1395		10 May 1893	Rev. J. J. Lewis
161	13 May 1893	Alfred Richard Duck Mary Ann Elizabeth Barnes	Alfred Richard Duck Mary Ann Elizabeth Davies 💍 1893/1513	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	43 23	Wellington Wadestown	years 1 week	Wesleyan Church, Molesworth Street	93/1404		13 May 1893	Rev. J. G. Chapman
162	16 May 1893	William Wickie Lena Davis	William Wilkie Selena Davis 💍 1893/1584	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	26 24	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	St. Mark's Church	93/1354		16 May 1893	Rev. R. Coffey
163	17 May 1893	Samuel Webb Jane Gibson	Samuel Webb Jane Gibson 💍 1893/1493	Widower Widow	Tailor	57 50	Wellington Wellington	10 months years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1443		17 May 1893	W. Twyary

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).