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 745

District of Christchurch 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
222	7 June 1895	Philip Bernard Morris Myra Baldwin	Philip Bernard Morris Myra Baldwin 💍 1895/512	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 11 months	House of Geo: Payling, North Belt, Christchurch	95/1713	7 June 1895	Rev R. Preenie, Presbyterian
223	11 June 1895	John Sinclair Jane Cleland	John Sinclair Jane Cleland 💍 1895/930	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 months	Wesleyan Church, Paparua Road, St Albans	95/1673	11 June 1895	Rev J. A. Leo Ford, Wesleyan
224	14 June 1895	Alfred William Hennessy Ada Weston	Alfred William Hennessy Ada Weston 💍 1895/928	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 21 years	Roman Catholic Church, Barbados St, Christchurch	95/1671	14 June 1895	Rev J. Cummings, Roman Catholic
225	14 June 1895	Herbert William Horatio Piper Marion Alice Whitehead	Hubert William Horatio Piper Marion Alice Whitehead 💍 1895/4033	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	22 26	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 26 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	95/1658	14 June 1895	Rev W. Averill, Church of England
226	15 June 1895	Robert Boattie Boyd Margaret Williamson Stewart	Robert Beattie Boyd Margaret Williamson Stewart 💍 1895/463	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 1 month	House of Mr. G. Stewart, Brigittes Road, Papanui, Spreydon	95/1649	15 June 1895	Rev G. Webster, Presbyterian
227	17 June 1895	Arthur Johnston Grace Elizabeth Cuddon	Arthur Johnston Grace Elizabeth Cuddon 💍 1895/486	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep-farmer	33 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 22 years	Episcopalian Church, Fendalton Road, Christchurch	95/1708	17 June 1895	Rev Canon Hall, Church of England
228	17 June 1895	James Frederick Holmes Grace Amelia Roper	James Frederick Holmes Grace Amelia Roper 💍 1895/780	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 22 years	Episcopalian Church, Halkett	95/2017	17 June 1895	Rev H. R. Hawkins, Church of England

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 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).