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 763

District of Lyttelton 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
6	5 April 1895	Thomas Turnball Harriet Eliza Heldyard	Thomas Turnbull Harriet Eliza Hildyard 💍 1895/521	Bachelor Spinster	Drapers Assistant	31 24	Lyttelton Lyttelton	4 days 24 years	House of William Heldyard, Lyttelton	95/1943		5 April 1895	Rev. P. N. Laurance, Wesleyan Minister
7	9 April 1895	William James Gilmore Emma Brockley	William James Gilmore Emma Brockley 💍 1895/522	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Feather Dresser	33 25	Lyttelton Lyttelton	9 years 2 years	House of Mrs. Langridge, Lyttelton	95/1952		10 April 1895	Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister
8	10 April 1895	Archibald Malloch Elizabeth Mary Whalley	Archibald Malloch Elizabeth Mary Whalley 💍 1895/542	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 25	Lyttelton Lyttelton	7 days 11 years	House of Robert Pealum, Lyttelton	95/1758		10 April 1895	Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister
9	11 April 1895	William John Ralph Mary Ellen Caldwell	William John Ralph Mary Ellen Caldwell 💍 1895/538	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 25	Lyttelton Lyttelton	18 months 3 months	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton	95/1749		11 April 1895	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister
10	22 April 1895	Maurice Alapins Kenny Ruth Price Roberts	Maurice Aloysius Kenny Ruth Price Roberts 💍 1895/541	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	25 20	Lyttelton Lyttelton	4 days 20 years	St. Josephs Church, Lyttelton	95/1750	John Roberts, father	22 April 1895	Rev. H. M. Salvador, Roman Catholic Minister
11	22 April 1895	Roderick Gallagher Jane Whem	Roderick Gallagher Jane Wham 💍 1895/540	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy Farmer	26 24	Lyttelton Lyttelton	21 years 9 years	St. Josephs Church, Lyttelton	95/1749		22 April 1895	Rev. H. M. Salvador, Roman Catholic Minister
12	23 April 1895	Charles Rope Lucy Radford otherwise Haskins	Charles Pope Lucy Radford 💍 1895/536	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Purau Governor Bay	9 years 7 years	Anglican Church, Governor Bay	95/1745		23 April 1895	Rev. J. Sheldon, Anglican Minister
13	12 June 1895	Francis Robert Hicks Gardiner Emily Bean	Francis Robert Hicks Gardiner Emily Dean 💍 1895/539	Bachelor Spinster	Run Holder	20 22	Purau Purau	17 years 22 years	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton	95/1748		12 June 1895	Rev. E. Chambers, Anglican 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).