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 269

District of Quarter ending 30 September 1895 Registrar J. M. Paulkesson

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

296

10 August 1895

Arthur Dolin
Catherine Jarrett

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

37
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

37 years
3 days

Church of Good Shepherd

95/2607

Margaret Meason

Rev. H. J. Gebbie, Church of England

No	296
Date of Notice	10 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Dolin	Catherine Jarrett
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	37 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of Good Shepherd
Folio	95/2607
Consent	Margaret Meason
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Gebbie, Church of England

297

10 August 1895

Joseph Stevens
Henrietta Esther Chamberlain

Joseph Stevens
Harriet Esther Chamberlain
💍 1895/1584

Widower
Widow

45
48

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
10 years

St. Johns Church

95/2931

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

No	297
Date of Notice	10 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Stevens	Henrietta Esther Chamberlain
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Stevens	Harriet Esther Chamberlain
	💍 1895/1584
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession
Age	45	48
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio	95/2931
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. M. Watson, Church of England

298

10 August 1895

Edward Eaton
Polly Ivy Cummins

Edward Egerton Hungerford
Polly Ivy Cummins
💍 1895/1261

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 days
18 months

Registrar's Office

95/2595

Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Paulkesson

No	298
Date of Notice	10 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Eaton	Polly Ivy Cummins
BDM Match (72%)	Edward Egerton Hungerford	Polly Ivy Cummins
	💍 1895/1261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	95/2595
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Paulkesson

299

10 August 1895

Frederick Thomas Back
Jessie Ann Workman

Frederick Thomas George
Jessie Ann Work
💍 1895/3906

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

31
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
22 years

St. Michael's Church

95/2879

George

Rev. A. W. Averies, Church of England

No	299
Date of Notice	10 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Back	Jessie Ann Workman
BDM Match (79%)	Frederick Thomas George	Jessie Ann Work
	💍 1895/3906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	95/2879
Consent	George
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Averies, Church of England

300

12 August 1895

Samuel Beale
Louisa Phoebe Hampton

Samuel Beale
Louisa Phoebe Hampton
💍 1895/2620

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years

House of Rev. W. H. Plumb, Lichfield St., Christchurch

95/3907

Rev. T. Plensie, Presbyterian

No	300
Date of Notice	12 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Beale	Louisa Phoebe Hampton
	💍 1895/2620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. H. Plumb, Lichfield St., Christchurch
Folio	95/3907
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Plensie, Presbyterian

301

12 August 1895

Alexander Johnston
Emily Meason Barnes

Alexander Johnston
Emily Mason Barnes
💍 1895/1836

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years
6 months

St. Johns Church

95/3001

Rev. W. J. P. Winter, Church of England

No	301
Date of Notice	12 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Johnston	Emily Meason Barnes
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Johnston	Emily Mason Barnes
	💍 1895/1836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio	95/3001
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. P. Winter, Church of England

302

16 August 1895

Robert Morrison
Annie Carr Harvey

Robert Morrison
Annie Orr Harrey
💍 1895/1278

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

36
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
11 months

House of Mrs. Harvey, Huxley St., Sydenham

95/2613

Rev. J. J. Bolle, Baptist

No	302
Date of Notice	16 August 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Morrison	Annie Carr Harvey
BDM Match (91%)	Robert Morrison	Annie Orr Harrey
	💍 1895/1278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	11 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Harvey, Huxley St., Sydenham
Folio	95/2613
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bolle, Baptist

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).