Intentions to Marry, 1894

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840406, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025

Page 192

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1894

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
31	20 January 1894	William Neill Wood Harriet Bremner Walker	William Nevill Ward Harriet Frances Talter 💍 1894/483	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	36 23	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars office, Wellington	94/484		20 January 1894	M. T. Wyatt
32	23 January 1894	Arthur Strafford King Annie Caroline Carr	Arthur Stuart Burgess Annie Caroline Carr 💍 1894/555	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 27	Wellington Wellington	4 days 3 months	St. Peters Church	94/429		23 January 1894	Rev. W. C. Waters
33	23 January 1894	Robert Grey Bell Helena Marion Hogan	Robert Grey Bell Helena Marion Hogan 💍 1894/484	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	24 23	Wellington Wellington	4 days	Registrars office, Wellington	94/485		23 January 1894	M. T. Wyatt
34	25 January 1894	Frederick George Trice Annie Elizabeth Forbes	Frederick George Trim Annie Elizabeth Jones 💍 1894/477	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Bridegroom, 6 Daniells Street	94/464		25 January 1894	Rev. C. E. Ward
35	25 January 1894	Robert Meldrum Annie Robe Elizabeth Forbes	Robert Andrew Annie Elizabeth Young 💍 1895/759	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	20 33	Wellington Wakatipu	2 weeks 7 days	Registrars office, Wellington	94/486		25 January 1894	M. T. Wyatt
35	25 January 1894	Arthur Pudney Beatrice Lucy Annette Horowth	Arthur Pudney Beatrice Lucy Annetta Hooworth 💍 1894/454	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	33 33	Wellington Wellington	1 day	Congregational Church, Bowen Street	94/459		25 January 1894	Rev. G. J. Allen
37	25 January 1894	William Henry Ferris Katherine Florence Nathans	William Henry Ferris Katherine Florence Nattrass 💍 1894/486	Bachelor Spinster	Flax Miller	26 18	Wellington Wellington	years months	Registrars office, Wellington	94/487	Nathans, brother	25 January 1894	M. T. Wyatt
38	26 January 1894	Joseph John Beech Ellen Mary Ryan	Joseph John Beech Ellen Mary Ryan 💍 1894/461	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 28	Wellington Wellington	60 days 1 month	St. Mary's Cathedral	94/472		26 January 1894	Rev. T. Dawson
39	29 January 1894	William Neill Stewart Hannah Hope	Williamson Keall Stewart Hannah Hope 💍 1894/443	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 24	Wellington Wellington	2 months 3 months	Friendly Society's Lodge, Vivian Street	94/453		29 January 1894	Rev. J. K. Elliott
40	30 January 1894	David Mathewson Naismith Hannah Maria Farmer	David Mathenson Nairn Hannah Maria Farmar 💍 1894/441	Widower Spinster	Medical Practitioner	30 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 weeks	House of Mr. McLean, Hanson Street	94/452		30 January 1894	Rev. J. K. Elliott
41	30 January 1894	James Henry Cook Sarah Harris	James Henry Cook Sarah Harris 💍 1894/551	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 18	Pahautanui Pahautanui	years	House of Rev. John Moir, Birmingham Street	94/425	Henry Harris, father	30 January 1894	Rev. John Moir
42	30 January 1894	Takana Kingi Horiana Natanahira	Ta Kana Kingi Hariana Vatanahira 💍 1894/487	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	43 35	Wellington Wellington	8 days	Registrars office, Wellington	94/488		30 January 1894	M. T. Wyatt
43	31 January 1894	George Raymond Cross Rose Lillian Howard	George Raymond Crosby Jackman Rose Lillian Howard 💍 1894/435	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Howard, Howard Street	94/446	Samuel Isaac Howard, father	31 January 1894	Rev. C. P. Dallaston
44	31 January 1894	Alexander Morgan Lawrence Stuart	Alexander Morgan Lavinia Stuart 💍 1894/560	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 26	Wellington Pahautanui	years	Roman Catholic Church, Pahautanui	94/410		31 January 1894	Rev. John Lane
45	1 February 1894	Mark Hickey Minnie Murphy	Morto Hickey Minnie Murphy 💍 1894/462	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 26	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	St. Mary's Cathedral	94/473		1 February 1894	Rev. T. Dawson
46	1 February 1894	George Clark Henrietta Harriet Edwards	George Clark Henrietta Harriet Edwards 💍 1894/1062	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	25 19	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Clark, Amora Terrace	94/1047	Joseph Edwards, father	1 February 1894	Rev. C. J. Hogg

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).