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 870

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1894 Registrar E. 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

303

20 July 1894

William Trotter
July Dickson Crouch

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright

35
32

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
3 years

Registrar's Office

94/2182

20 July 1894

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	303
Date of Notice	20 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Trotter	July Dickson Crouch
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/2182
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1894
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

304

25 July 1894

Charles Robinson
Esther Annie Hollan

Charles Robinson
Esther Annie Holland
💍 1894/2101

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

32
25

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
25 years

Registrar's Office

94/2183

25 July 1894

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	304
Date of Notice	25 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robinson	Esther Annie Hollan
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Robinson	Esther Annie Holland
	💍 1894/2101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/2183
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1894
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

305

25 July 1894

Richard Francis Houghton
Ann Eliza Carder

Richard Francis Houghton
Ann Eliza Carder
💍 1894/2129

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

20
24

Auckland
Auckland, Pompallier Terrace

11 years
15 years

House of M. C. Carder

94/2256

Thomas Marefield, Legal Guardian

25 July 1894

Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

No	305
Date of Notice	25 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Francis Houghton	Ann Eliza Carder
	💍 1894/2129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	20	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland, Pompallier Terrace
Length of Residence	11 years	15 years
Marriage Place	House of M. C. Carder
Folio	94/2256
Consent	Thomas Marefield, Legal Guardian
Date of Certificate	25 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

306

25 July 1894

William Miller
Edith Mary Reville

William Miller
Edith Mary Neville
💍 1894/2108

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
22

Mangere
Auckland

20 years
22 years

Registrar's Office

94/2184

25 July 1894

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	306
Date of Notice	25 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Miller	Edith Mary Reville
BDM Match (97%)	William Miller	Edith Mary Neville
	💍 1894/2108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Mangere	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/2184
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1894
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

307

27 July 1894

William Follett Clarke
Jane Bewick

William Follett Clarke
Jane Bewicke
💍 1894/2115

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

31
25

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
25 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

94/2232

27 July 1894

Rev. J. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

No	307
Date of Notice	27 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Follett Clarke	Jane Bewick
BDM Match (96%)	William Follett Clarke	Jane Bewicke
	💍 1894/2115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	94/2232
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

308

27 July 1894

Charles Johnson
Mary French

Charles Johnson
Mary French
💍 1894/2143

Widower
Widow

Upholsterer

51
53

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
10 years

St. John's Wesleyan Church, Ponsonby

94/2221

27 July 1894

Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan

No	308
Date of Notice	27 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Johnson	Mary French
	💍 1894/2143
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	51	53
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Wesleyan Church, Ponsonby
Folio	94/2221
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan

309

27 July 1894

John Burns
Catherine Annie Hines

John Burns
Catherine Ann McInnes
💍 1894/2152

Widower
Spinster

Gardener

57
23

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
14 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

94/2231

27 July 1894

Rev. G. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

No	309
Date of Notice	27 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Burns	Catherine Annie Hines
BDM Match (88%)	John Burns	Catherine Ann McInnes
	💍 1894/2152
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	57	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	94/2231
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

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 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).