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 284

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1895 Registrar J. M. Macferson

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

28 January 1895

Isaac Brougham
Alice Edith Thorne

Isaac Broughan
Alice Edith Thorne
💍 1895/3045

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office

95/609

28 January 1895

Registrar, J. M. Macferson

No	36
Date of Notice	28 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Brougham	Alice Edith Thorne
BDM Match (96%)	Isaac Broughan	Alice Edith Thorne
	💍 1895/3045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	95/609
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Registrar, J. M. Macferson

29 January 1895

George Andrew Meikleham
Ritchie Meikleham

George Andrew Ritchie
Maud Ella Meikleham
💍 1895/3978

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
12 years

House of W. H. Meikleham

95/983

29 January 1895

Rev. P. R. Munro, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	29 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Andrew Meikleham	Ritchie Meikleham
BDM Match (61%)	George Andrew Ritchie	Maud Ella Meikleham
	💍 1895/3978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of W. H. Meikleham
Folio	95/983
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. R. Munro, Presbyterian

29 January 1895

Joseph Henry Lewis
Frances Selina Kerr

Joseph Henry Sluis
Frances Emma Kerr
💍 1895/3148

Widower
Spinster

55
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
5 months, Avonside

Church of Holy Trinity

95/647

29 January 1895

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	29 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Lewis	Frances Selina Kerr
BDM Match (79%)	Joseph Henry Sluis	Frances Emma Kerr
	💍 1895/3148
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession
Age	55	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	5 months, Avonside
Marriage Place	Church of Holy Trinity
Folio	95/647
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

1 February 1895

Eustace Theodore Frederick Woods
Eliza Kate Thave

Eustace Theodore Frederick Woods
Eliza Kate Shave
💍 1895/3149

Bachelor
Spinster

Comedian

29
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
20 years, Avonside

Holy Trinity Church

95/648

Catherine Ellen Toby, Mother

1 February 1895

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	1 February 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eustace Theodore Frederick Woods	Eliza Kate Thave
BDM Match (97%)	Eustace Theodore Frederick Woods	Eliza Kate Shave
	💍 1895/3149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Comedian
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years, Avonside
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	95/648
Consent	Catherine Ellen Toby, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 February 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

1 February 1895

Alfred William Stick
Elizabeth Mary Power

Alfred William Eslick
Elizabeth Mary Power
💍 1895/2998

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist

29
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
27 years

St. Michael's Church

95/691

1 February 1895

Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	1 February 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Stick	Elizabeth Mary Power
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred William Eslick	Elizabeth Mary Power
	💍 1895/2998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	95/691
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England

1 February 1895

Adam Oliver Bacon
Ethel Hera Fleming

Adam Oliver
Ethel Hera Fleming
💍 1895/433

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk

25
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 months
1 year

Registrar's Office, See Notice No. 178 of

95/178

1 February 1895

Registrar, J. M. Macferson

No	41
Date of Notice	1 February 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Oliver Bacon	Ethel Hera Fleming
BDM Match (82%)	Adam Oliver	Ethel Hera Fleming
	💍 1895/433
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, See Notice No. 178 of
Folio	95/178
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1895
Officiating Minister	Registrar, J. M. Macferson

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).