Intentions to Marry, 1895 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840408, 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 004

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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
246	9 July 1895	Frank Coutts Sarah Earnshaw Whittingham	Frank Coutts Sarah Earnshaw Whittingham 💍 1895/952	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 21	Gore Gore	14 yrs 10 yrs	Congregational Church, Beresford St	95/2223		9 July 1895	Rev. T. Warner, Congregational
247	9 July 1895	John Waymouth Eliza Aggers	John Haywouth Eliza Aggers 💍 1895/3879	Widower Spinster	Shipwright	50 37	Auckland Auckland	36 yrs 37 yrs	All Saints Ch, Ponsonby	95/2187		9 July 1895	Rev. W. Calder, Church of England
248	10 July 1895	Louis S. John Kekwick Winifred May Buddle	Louis St John Kekwick Winifred May Buddle 💍 1895/922	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Manager	30 20	Queensland Auckland	4 months 20 yrs	St. Luke's Ch, Remuera	95/2191	Thomas Buddle, Father	10 July 1895	Rev. J. Crump, Wesleyan
249	10 July 1895	William Wilson Mary Elizabeth Robinson	William Wilson Mary Elizabeth Robinson 💍 1895/1141 William Ramsay Mabel Ellen Robinson 💍 1895/2749	Widower Widow	Grocer	42 35	Auckland Auckland	14 yrs 2 yrs	St. Matthew's Ch, Auckland	95/2232		10 July 1895	Rev. L. Fitz Gerald, Church of England
250	11 July 1895	James McGillivray Elizabeth Nounns	James McGillivray Elizabeth Munns 💍 1895/3884	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	24 23	New Lynn Auckland	6 yrs 4 yrs	St. David's Ch, Symond St, Auckland	95/2198		11 July 1895	Rev. R. Scott West, Presbyterian
251	12 July 1895	Thomas Bowrn Ellen Hiskey	Thomas Bowen Ellen Hickey 💍 1895/920 Thomas Howarth Ellen Reidy 💍 1895/880 Thomas Robinson Ellen Tiller 💍 1895/2595	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	35 37	Auckland Auckland	10 yrs 25 yrs	Roman Catholic Church, Panmure	95/2189		12 July 1895	Very Rev. W. McDonald, Roman Catholic
252	15 July 1895	Frank Edward Aenth Frances Eliza Summers	Frank Edward Ocutt Frances Eliza Summers 💍 1895/1155	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	29 29	Sydney London	14 yrs 29 yrs	St. Matthew's Ch, Auckland	95/2234		15 July 1895	Rev. L. Fitz Gerald, Church of England
253	15 July 1895	George Joseph Sellwood Caroline Webster	George Joseph Sellwood Caroline Webster 💍 1895/948	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	38 29	Howick Howick	5 yrs 3 yrs	Church of England, Mt. Albert	95/2218		15 July 1895	Rev. R. G. Boler, Church of England
254	16 July 1895	Meredith Rountree Annie Matilda Barnes	Meredith Rountree Annie Matilda Barnes 💍 1895/873	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	38 31	Auckland Auckland	20 yrs 20 yrs	Registrar's Office, Auckland	95/2148		16 July 1895	E. D. Lyons, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).