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 010

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1895

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

288

10 August 1895

Lionel Vaux Zinzan
Charlotte Augusta Mulgan

Lionel Vaux Zinzan
Charlotte Augusta Mulgan
💍 1895/947

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
25

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
15 years

Church of England, Onehunga

95/2207

10 August 1895

Rev. W. E. Mulgan, Church of England

No	288
Date of Notice	10 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Vaux Zinzan	Charlotte Augusta Mulgan
	💍 1895/947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Onehunga
Folio	95/2207
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Mulgan, Church of England

289

10 August 1895

Joseph Varney Bachell
Mary Esther Browne

Joseph Varney
Mary Esther Brown
💍 1895/919

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

24
26

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
15 years

St. Mark's Church, Remuera

95/2188

10 August 1895

Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

No	289
Date of Notice	10 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Varney Bachell	Mary Esther Browne
BDM Match (78%)	Joseph Varney	Mary Esther Brown
	💍 1895/919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Remuera
Folio	95/2188
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

290

10 August 1895

Robert Alfred Bachell Cantell
Mary Agnes Tonson

Robert Alfred Cantell
Mary Agnes Tonson
💍 1895/951

Bachelor
Spinster

Copper Smith

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
18 years

House of Mrs. J. Tonson, Harangahape Road, Auckland

95/2222

10 August 1895

Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist

No	290
Date of Notice	10 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alfred Bachell Cantell	Mary Agnes Tonson
BDM Match (86%)	Robert Alfred Cantell	Mary Agnes Tonson
	💍 1895/951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Copper Smith
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. J. Tonson, Harangahape Road, Auckland
Folio	95/2222
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist

291

12 August 1895

Clifford Arthur Stevens
Barbara Ashton

Clifford Arthur Stevens
Barbara Ashton
💍 1895/1524

Bachelor
Spinster

Tutor

47
55

Devonport
Devonport

6 weeks
20 years

Holy Trinity Church, Devonport

95/2894

12 August 1895

Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

No	291
Date of Notice	12 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Arthur Stevens	Barbara Ashton
	💍 1895/1524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tutor
Age	47	55
Dwelling Place	Devonport	Devonport
Length of Residence	6 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Devonport
Folio	95/2894
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

292

12 August 1895

William Alfred Hodgeon
Ellen Georgina Spinks

William Alfred Hodgson
Ellen Georgina Spinks
💍 1895/1705

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant

23
22

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
12 months

St. Benedict's Church, Auckland

95/3110

12 August 1895

Very Rev. W. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	292
Date of Notice	12 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Hodgeon	Ellen Georgina Spinks
BDM Match (98%)	William Alfred Hodgson	Ellen Georgina Spinks
	💍 1895/1705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church, Auckland
Folio	95/3110
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1895
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. W. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

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 1908. 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).