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 278

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

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

8 January 1895

Hubert Schonberg Brodrick
Mary Catherine Hoft

Herbert Schowberg Brodrick
Mary Catherine Hoft
💍 1895/2992

Bachelor
Spinster

Constable

30
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
25 years

St. Michael's Church

95/685

18 January 1895

Rev. A. W. Averill, Christchurch

No	8
Date of Notice	8 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Schonberg Brodrick	Mary Catherine Hoft
BDM Match (94%)	Herbert Schowberg Brodrick	Mary Catherine Hoft
	💍 1895/2992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Constable
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	95/685
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Averill, Christchurch

9 January 1895

James Sweeney
Elizabeth Hattery

James Sweeney
Elizabeth Slattery
💍 1895/51

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

27
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 days
5 days

Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes St.

95/660

9 January 1895

Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	9 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sweeney	Elizabeth Hattery
BDM Match (94%)	James Sweeney	Elizabeth Slattery
	💍 1895/51
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes St.
Folio	95/660
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic

10 January 1895

John Ross
Caroline Frances Curnow

John Ross
Caroline Frances Antonia Arenas
💍 1895/2851

John Ross
Mary Stevens Balfour
💍 1895/1511

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

29
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
13 years

St. John's Church

95/629

Curnow, Father

10 January 1895

Rev. H. E. M. Watson, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	10 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ross	Caroline Frances Curnow
BDM Match (81%)	John Ross	Caroline Frances Antonia Arenas
	💍 1895/2851
BDM Match (63%)	John Ross	Mary Stevens Balfour
	💍 1895/1511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	95/629
Consent	Curnow, Father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. M. Watson, Church of England

11 January 1895

James William Initham
Alice Amy Cox

James William Smitham
Alice Amy Cox
💍 1895/2852

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

30
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
15 years

St. John's Church

95/630

11 January 1895

Rev. H. E. M. Watson, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	11 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Initham	Alice Amy Cox
BDM Match (95%)	James William Smitham	Alice Amy Cox
	💍 1895/2852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	95/630
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. M. Watson, Church of England

12 January 1895

Daniel Mahoney Carter
Priscilla Alpe

Daniel Mahoney
Priscilla Alpe
💍 1895/52

Bachelor
Spinster

Domestic

30
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

30 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes St.

95/661

12 January 1895

Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	12 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Mahoney Carter	Priscilla Alpe
BDM Match (83%)	Daniel Mahoney	Priscilla Alpe
	💍 1895/52
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession		Domestic
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes St.
Folio	95/661
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic

13 January 1895

Charles Henry Radcliffe
Mary Ann Marigold

Charles Henry Radcliffe
Mary Ann Marigold
💍 1895/3180

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
18 years

House of Mrs. Marigold, Islington

95/710

Sarah Marigold, Mother

13 January 1895

Rev. J. W. Ellis, Bible Christian

No	13
Date of Notice	13 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Radcliffe	Mary Ann Marigold
	💍 1895/3180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Marigold, Islington
Folio	95/710
Consent	Sarah Marigold, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Ellis, Bible Christian

14 January 1895

Henry Juray Bullie
Harriett Townshend

Henry Suraj Bullie
Harriett Townsend
💍 1895/55

Widower
Spinster

Laborer

40
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
24 years

St. Saviours Church

95/664

14 January 1895

Rev. T. A. Scott, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	14 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Juray Bullie	Harriett Townshend
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Suraj Bullie	Harriett Townsend
	💍 1895/55
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church
Folio	95/664
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Scott, 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 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).