Intentions to Marry, 1898 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840414, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

1898 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 714

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1898

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
466	15 December 1898	Alfred Richardson Ella Frances Richardson	Alfred Richardson Meek Ethel Frances Richardson 💍 1898/5074	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister & Solicitor	31 27	Wellington Wellington	31 years 20 years	St. Paul's Cathedral, Wellington	98/4989		15 December 1898	Rev. N. S. Sprott
467	16 December 1898	Frederick Hubley Gertrude Ellen Williams	Frederick Stubley Gertrude Ellen Williams 💍 1899/590 Frederick James Dalley Mercy Ellen Williams 💍 1899/450	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	28 20	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 weeks	St. Peter's Church, Wellington	99/532	No person to give consent	30 December 1898	Rev. N. C. Waters
468	16 December 1898	William Thomas Nellie Longdon	William Thomas Nellie Longden 💍 1898/3313 William Thomas Bertha Winnifred Bicknell 💍 1898/2208	Widower Widow	Labourer	29 27	Wellington Wellington	9 months 12 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	98/4267		16 December 1898	F. W. Mancfield, Registrar
469	17 December 1898	Henry Augustus Homer Grace Maitland Wright	Henry Augustus Usmar Grace Westland Wright 💍 1898/4570	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 24	Petone Wellington	1 year 12 years	Residence of R. A. G. Turner, Karori, Wellington	98/4340		17 December 1898	M. A. G. Turner
470	17 December 1898	Alfred Pennifold Mary Charlotte Burn	Alfred Pennifold Mary Charlotte Burn 💍 1898/4805	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	29 20	Masterton Wellington	6 months 4 years	Residence of Constable's Office, Wellington	98/4280	Robert Gibbon Burn, Father	19 December 1898	Rev. K. Elliott
471	19 December 1898	Timothy Mulhane Mary Kearney	Timothy Mulhane Mary Kearney 💍 1898/4552	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 25	Longburn Wellington	2 months 12 months	Convent Schoolroom, Hill Street, Wellington	98/4320		20 December 1898	Rev. John Halley
472	19 December 1898	Joseph Alfred Hunt Thomasina Sample	Joseph Alfred Hunt Thomasina Sample 💍 1898/4794	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 24	Auckland Wellington	18 months 24 years	St. John's Church, Wellington	98/4292		19 December 1898	Rev. James Paterson
473	19 December 1898	John Sidney Swan Gertrude May Holcroft	John Sydney Swan Gertrude Mary Holcroft 💍 1898/4553	Bachelor Spinster	Architect	24 28	Wellington Wellington	25 years 10 years	St. Mary's Chapel, Hill Street, Wellington	98/4321		19 December 1898	Rev. W. J. Lewis
474	19 December 1898	Augustus Chipper Bridget Christina Murphy	Augustus Chipper Bridget Christina Murphy 💍 1898/4563	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Tailoress	30 25	Wellington Wellington	3 years 25 years	St. Mary's Church, Wellington	98/4335		19 December 1898	Rev. Thos. Devoy
475	20 December 1898	Alfred John Taylor Margaret Ellen Nairn	Alfred John Taylor Margaret Ellen Nairn 💍 1898/4548	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	26 27	Jawa Flat Khandallah	26 years 27 years	Residence of Mr. James Nairn, Khandallah	98/4317		20 December 1898	Rev. Richard Hall

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).