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 1059

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
231	11 July 1894	William Henry Amos Ellen Newton	William Henry Amos Ellen Newton 💍 1894/2290 John William Flesher Ellen Newton 💍 1894/3390	Bachelor Spinster	Attendant Lunatic Asylum	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/2465		11 July 1894	W. D. Wyatt
232	11 July 1894	John Waugh Catherine Amos	John Waugh Catherine Amos 💍 1894/2291	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	32 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/2466		11 July 1894	W. D. Wyatt
233	12 July 1894	Herbert Edgar Gray Frances Ellen Jeffries Harris	Herbert Edgar Gray Jeffries Frances Ellen Harris 💍 1894/2324	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Hill, Rolleston Street	94/2499		12 July 1894	Mr. A. F. Turner
234	14 July 1894	Sidney Nicholls Margaret Ann Charmock	Sidney Nicholls Margaret Ann Marnell 💍 1894/4110	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	30 23	Wellington Wellington	years 4 days	St. Marks Church	94/2501		14 July 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
235	16 July 1894	Edwin Stafford Murphy Eliza Ann Elliott	Edwin Stafford Murphy Eliza Ann Elliott 💍 1894/2292	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 17	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/2467	Edward Elliott, Father	16 July 1894	W. D. Wyatt
236	17 July 1894	Charles William Hollis Annie Susan Emery	Charles William Hollis Annie Susan Emeny 💍 1894/2743	Bachelor Spinster	Finisher	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	94/2996		17 July 1894	Rev. J. H. Sprott
237	17 July 1894	Richard Henry Pratt Agnes O'Connor	Richard Henry Pratt Agnes O'Connor 💍 1894/2293	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	21 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/2468	Michael O'Connor, Father	17 July 1894	W. D. Wyatt
238	18 July 1894	Alexander Daniel Knight Caroline Murray	Alexander Daniel Knight Caroline Murray 💍 1894/39	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Wairarapa Heretaunga Road	years years	House of Mr. Murray, Heretaunga Road	94/2502	John Murray, Father	18 July 1894	Rev. John Lane
239	19 July 1894	Charles Kelly Florence Emily Silberry	Charles Kelly Florence Emily Silbery 💍 1894/2272	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	24 21	Petone Petone	10 months years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/2470		19 July 1894	W. D. Wyatt
240	20 July 1894	George Samuel Goss Christina Hobbs	George Samuel Goss Christina Hobbs 💍 1894/2271	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Belmont Heretaunga Road	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/2469	Christopher Hobbs, Father	20 July 1894	W. D. Wyatt
241	23 July 1894	Frederick William Retter Ada Stephens	Frederick William Retter Ada Stephens 💍 1894/2514	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Wrigley, Elizabeth Street	94/2535		23 July 1894	Rev. J. Wrigley
242	24 July 1894	Alfred Henry Will Charlotte Emily Evans	Alfred Henry Wild Charlotte Emily Evans 💍 1894/2327	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 25	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mr. Young, Sinclair Place	94/2504		24 July 1894	Rev. J. K. Clinton
243	24 July 1894	William Williams Susan Margaret Davies	William Williams Susan Margaret Dawes 💍 1894/2273	Bachelor Widow	Groom	37 21	Wellington Wellington	months years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/2471		24 July 1894	W. D. Wyatt
244	25 July 1894	Charles Geld Alice Bernard	Charles Gell Alice Barnard 💍 1894/2389	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	94/2518		25 July 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
245	26 July 1894	Walter Scott Lizzie Carroll	Walter Scott Lizzie Carroll 💍 1894/2398	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	29 28	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 5 months	House of Mr. Baker, Hopper Street	94/2528		26 July 1894	Rev. James Guy

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).