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 424

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1894 Registrar S. H. Lyons

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

168

7 April 1894

Joseph Whittle
Amelia Jane Moulders

Joseph Whittle
Amelia Jane Moulden
💍 1894/1078

Bachelor
Spinster

Bottler

22
23

Auckland
Auckland

2 years

St. Matthews Church

94/1111

7 April 1894

Rev. L. Fitzgerald, Church of England

No	168
Date of Notice	7 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Whittle	Amelia Jane Moulders
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Whittle	Amelia Jane Moulden
	💍 1894/1078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bottler
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	94/1111
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Fitzgerald, Church of England

169

7 April 1894

William Henry Jenkins
Kate Howard Wilson

William Henry Jenkins
Kate Howard Wilson
💍 1894/1994

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
24

Whangarei
Devonport

25 years
5 years

Church of England

94/2108

7 April 1894

Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

No	169
Date of Notice	7 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jenkins	Kate Howard Wilson
	💍 1894/1994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Devonport
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	94/2108
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

170

7 April 1894

Ernest Edward Bradbury
Winifred Mitchelson

Ernest Edward Bradbury
Winifred Whitehead
💍 1894/1117

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
4 years

House of Mrs. J. Bradbury, John Street, Ponsonby

94/1151

William Whitehead, Father

7 April 1894

Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan

No	170
Date of Notice	7 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Bradbury	Winifred Mitchelson
BDM Match (82%)	Ernest Edward Bradbury	Winifred Whitehead
	💍 1894/1117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. J. Bradbury, John Street, Ponsonby
Folio	94/1151
Consent	William Whitehead, Father
Date of Certificate	7 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan

171

9 April 1894

Richard Dean
Kathleen Coogan

Richard Dias
Kathleen Cosgrave
💍 1894/1977

Widower
Spinster

Mariner

38
28

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
10 months

St. Patrick's Church

94/2114

9 April 1894

Rev. J. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

No	171
Date of Notice	9 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Dean	Kathleen Coogan
BDM Match (80%)	Richard Dias	Kathleen Cosgrave
	💍 1894/1977
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	94/2114
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

172

9 April 1894

William Willoughby
Lilian Sloane

William Willoughby
Lilian Sloane Glasgow
💍 1894/1122

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
2 years

House of Mrs. W. Willoughby, Graham Street

94/1156

9 April 1894

Rev. S. W. Greenish, Church of England

No	172
Date of Notice	9 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Willoughby	Lilian Sloane
BDM Match (81%)	William Willoughby	Lilian Sloane Glasgow
	💍 1894/1122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. W. Willoughby, Graham Street
Folio	94/1156
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Greenish, Church of England

173

11 April 1894

George Catt
Emma Cotley

George Gabb
Emma Cobley
💍 1894/1244

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
18

Auckland
Auckland

4 hours
4 years

House of Mr. H. Dickson, Cross Street, Newton

94/1167

William Henry Cobley, Father

11 April 1894

Rev. G. Aldridge, Church of England

No	173
Date of Notice	11 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Catt	Emma Cotley
BDM Match (82%)	George Gabb	Emma Cobley
	💍 1894/1244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 hours	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. H. Dickson, Cross Street, Newton
Folio	94/1167
Consent	William Henry Cobley, Father
Date of Certificate	11 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Aldridge, Church of England

174

12 April 1894

Ernest Henry Clayton
Christina Campbell Hardie

Ernest Henry Clayton
Christina Campbell Hardie
💍 1894/1147

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

27
26

Sydney
Auckland

3 days
2 years

St. Marks Church

94/1134

12 April 1894

Rev. J. Richards, Church of England

No	174
Date of Notice	12 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Clayton	Christina Campbell Hardie
	💍 1894/1147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Sydney	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	94/1134
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Richards, Church of England

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).