Intentions to Marry, 1895 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840407, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025.

1895 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 139

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1895 Registrar Sydney Jago

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

2 January 1895

David Cumming Simpson Wright
Sarah Dalgity

David Cunningham Simpson Wright
Sarah Dalgity
💍 1895/3507

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Domestic

24
22

Taradale
Napier

10 months
1 year

Residence of Mr Burgess, Carlyle St Napier

95/1233

2 January 1895

Rev. J. S. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Cumming Simpson Wright	Sarah Dalgity
BDM Match (92%)	David Cunningham Simpson Wright	Sarah Dalgity
	💍 1895/3507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	10 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Burgess, Carlyle St Napier
Folio	95/1233
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Paterson, Presbyterian

5 January 1895

Henry Stratford Brown
Ellen Susannah Day

Henry Stratford Brown
Ellen Susannah Day
💍 1895/3939

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

23
24

Taradale
Taradale

20 years
1 week

English Church Taradale

95/1288

5 January 1895

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stratford Brown	Ellen Susannah Day
	💍 1895/3939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	20 years	1 week
Marriage Place	English Church Taradale
Folio	95/1288
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

7 January 1895

Edwin Baldick
Eleanor Matthews

Edwin Baldick
Eleanor Matthews
💍 1895/2779

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

25
22

Blenheim
Auckland

15 years
22 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier

95/1271

7 January 1895

S. J. Jago, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	7 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Baldick	Eleanor Matthews
	💍 1895/2779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	95/1271
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1895
Officiating Minister	S. J. Jago, Registrar

14 January 1895

George Eliott
Lilias Alice Cathline Gordon

George Eliot Eliott
Lilias Alice Kathleen Gordon
💍 1895/2764

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
22

Napier
Napier

5 years
2 months

St Augustines Church Napier

95/1278

14 January 1895

Rev. W. Welsh, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	14 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Eliott	Lilias Alice Cathline Gordon
BDM Match (77%)	George Eliot Eliott	Lilias Alice Kathleen Gordon
	💍 1895/2764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church Napier
Folio	95/1278
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Welsh, Church of England

14 January 1895

Arthur Hyde
Helen Kathleen Kavanagh

Arthur Hyde
Helen Cathern Cavanagh
💍 1895/2766

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

25
20

Napier
Napier

2 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Chapel Napier

95/1281

Ellen Kavanagh, mother

14 January 1895

Rev. M. Grogan, R. C. Priest

No	5
Date of Notice	14 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hyde	Helen Kathleen Kavanagh
BDM Match (91%)	Arthur Hyde	Helen Cathern Cavanagh
	💍 1895/2766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel Napier
Folio	95/1281
Consent	Ellen Kavanagh, mother
Date of Certificate	14 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Grogan, R. C. Priest

18 January 1895

Cornelius O'Donoghue
Margaret Brady

Cornelius ODonohue
Margaret Brady
💍 1895/3959

Widower
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
Housekeeper

34
25

Napier
Napier

5 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church Napier

95/1280

18 January 1895

Rev. Thos. O'Shea, R. C. Priest

No	6
Date of Notice	18 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius O'Donoghue	Margaret Brady
BDM Match (95%)	Cornelius ODonohue	Margaret Brady
	💍 1895/3959
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Housekeeper
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Napier
Folio	95/1280
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. O'Shea, R. C. Priest

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).