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 699

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 1895

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
16	2 April 1895	Arthur Charles Sloyne Lucy Anna Neve	Arthur Charles Glayne Lucy Anna Neve 💍 1895/378	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	30 21	Wainmea Street, Nelson Wainmea Road, Nelson	6 months 21 years	the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	95/1529		2 April 1895	Hugh Gallers, Registrar of Marriages
17	2 April 1895	Elijah George Ingham Julia Mary Gross	Elijah George Ingham Hilda Mary Cross 💍 1895/367	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 21	St Vincent Street, Nelson Hope	21 years 21 years	Residence of Jane Ingham, St Vincent, Nelson	95/1542		4 April 1895	E. P. Gachemaille, Church of England Minister
18	4 April 1895	Henry Houston Money Constance Manly Rathbone	Harry Houston Mundy Constance Manly Rathbone 💍 1895/356	Bachelor Spinster	Coach-painter Barmaid	22 23	Bridge Street, Nelson Bridge Street, Nelson	3 months 3 months	the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	95/1530		4 April 1895	Hugh Gallers, Registrar of Marriages
19	5 April 1895	Alfred Ernest Kerr Margaretha Maria Schroder	Alfred Ernest Kerr Margaretha Maria Schroder 💍 1895/358	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	23 21	Bridge Street, Nelson Harper Street, Nelson	23 years 21 years	Residence of Henry William Jackson, Harper Street, Nelson	95/1532		5 April 1895	John Crump, Wesleyan Minister
20	9 April 1895	Arthur Dodson Beatrice Mary Gill	Arthur Dodson Beatrice Mary Gill 💍 1895/371	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 29	Suburban North, Nelson Suburban North, Nelson	9 years 9 years	St Peter's Church, Wakapuaka	95/1546		10 April 1895	J. E. B. Galway, Church of England Minister
21	10 April 1895	Claude Barbin Snow Charlotte Elizabeth Spencer	Claude Barbin Snow Charlotte Elizabeth Spencer 💍 1895/369	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	25 19	Bridge Street, Nelson Wainmea Street, Nelson	25 years 19 years	Residence of William Spencer, Wainmea Street, Nelson	95/1544	William Spencer, father	11 April 1895	E. C. Isaac, Congregational Minister
22	11 April 1895	William Ernest Brock Minnie March Lockyer	William Ernest Busch Minnie Maud Lockyer 💍 1895/811	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 20	Brook Street, Nelson Brook Street, Nelson	26 years 20 years	Christ Church, Trafalgar Square, Nelson	95/2081	William Lockyer, Father	11 April 1895	J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
23	11 April 1895	Charles Richard Percival Wilhelmina Sophie Marie Eggers	Charles Richard Percival Wilhelmina Sophie Maria Eggers 💍 1895/812	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 30	Brook Street, Nelson Brook Street, Nelson	26 years 12 years	Christ Church, Trafalgar Square, Nelson	95/2082		11 April 1895	J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
24	11 April 1895	Henry Buckeridge Florence Hamilton	Henry Buckeridge Florence Hamilton 💍 1895/362	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Collingwood Street, Nelson Nile Street East, Nelson	4 days 13 years	Residence of Frank Hamilton, Nile Street East, Nelson	95/1539		11 April 1895	J. H. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

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).