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 659

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
314	17 October 1895	William Davies Emily Jane Noble	William Davies Emily Jane Noble 💍 1895/129	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 22	Wellington Wellington	5 months 8 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/3360		17 October 1895	W. D. Wyatt
315	18 October 1895	Herbert Smallman Clemens Lucella Hobbs	Herbert Smallman Clemens Drusilla Hobbs 💍 1895/2417	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 18	Hokinui Road Hokinui Road	7 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church, Petone	95/3964	Christopher Rodman Hobbs, Father	18 October 1895	Rev. A. Thomas
316	21 October 1895	Henry Hammond Mary Jane Smith	Henry Hammond Mary Jane Smith 💍 1895/130	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 24	Wellington Wellington	1 month 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/3361		21 October 1895	W. D. Wyatt
317	22 October 1895	William Ernest Hughes Marion Lily Almon	William Ernest Hughes Marion Lily Allman Allman-Marchant 💍 1895/2572	Bachelor Spinster	Patent Agent	28 23	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	95/3899		22 October 1895	Rev. S. H. Sprott
318	22 October 1895	Stanley Victor Smith Alice Louisa Mansfield	Sidney Victor Smith Alice Louise Mansfield 💍 1895/2283	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	28 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 7 years	St. Mark's Church	95/3766		22 October 1895	Rev. R. Coffey
319	22 October 1895	Edward William Banks Kate Georgina Crowe	Edward William Banks Kate Georgina Crowe 💍 1895/131	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	30 34	Wellington Wellington	4 years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/3362		22 October 1895	W. D. Wyatt
320	23 October 1895	Charles Edmund Rotherham Lottie Darling	Charles Edmond Rotheram Lottie Darling 💍 1895/2504	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 26	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Rev. C. S. Ogg, Wellington Terrace	95/4019		23 October 1895	Rev. C. S. Ogg
321	25 October 1895	Archibald David Stewart Euphemia Clara Sutcliffe	Archibald David Stewart Euphermei Clara Sutcliffe 💍 1895/2260	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 27	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Mark's Church	95/3767		25 October 1895	Rev. R. Coffey
322	25 October 1895	Hans Henriksen Elizabeth Dennison	Hans Hendriksen Elizabeth Dennison 💍 1895/1919	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	32 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 1 year	House of Rev. J. K. Elliott, Pirie Street	95/3386		25 October 1895	Rev. J. K. Elliott
323	29 October 1895	Ernest Conrad William Sand Vivian Grace White		Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	26 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mark's Church	95/3768		29 October 1895	Rev. R. Coffey
324	30 October 1895	George Pudney Mary Louisa Beach	George Pudney Mary Louisa Bedell 💍 1895/1940	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist	22 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. James' Parsonage, Lower Hutt	95/3408	Henry George Beach, Father	30 October 1895	Rev. Joshua Jones
325	1 November 1895	Walter Samuel Best Lilian Beatrice Roberts	Walter Samuel Lett Lillian Beatrice Roberts 💍 1895/1918	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	Kaitoke Kaitoke	7 years 7 years	House of Mr. Morris, Karori	95/3385		1 November 1895	Rev. J. K. Elliott
326	1 November 1895	John Lawson Engel Mary Edith Mahoney	John Lawrence Engel Mary Celia Mahony 💍 1895/1973	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	House of Mr. Mahoney, Vogel Street	95/3441		1 November 1895	Rev. J. Mahoney
327	2 November 1895	Alfred William Freeman Clara Guilford	Alfred William Trueman Clara Fullford 💍 1895/1945	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	41 24	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	House of Rev. J. Guy, Willis Street	95/3413		2 November 1895	Rev. J. Guy
328	4 November 1895	Charles John Mann Mary Ramsbottom		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	95/3900		4 November 1895	Rev. S. H. Sprott

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 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).