Intentions to Marry, 1896 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840409, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1896 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 015

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar E. H. Lyons

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

27 January 1896

John Othello Hamilton
Alice Eva Hart

John Othello Hamilton
Alice Eva Hart
💍 1896/3781

Bachelor
Spinster

Comedian

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

96/118

27 January 1896

S. Thompson, Deputy Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	27 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Othello Hamilton	Alice Eva Hart
	💍 1896/3781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Comedian
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	96/118
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1896
Officiating Minister	S. Thompson, Deputy Registrar

28 January 1896

Thomas Charles Girdler
Catherine Maude Martin

Thomas Charles Girdler
Catherine Maud Martin
💍 1896/3804

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

29
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
3 years

St. Paul's Church

96/117

28 January 1896

Rev. C. H. Nelson, Church of England

No	55
Date of Notice	28 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Charles Girdler	Catherine Maude Martin
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Charles Girdler	Catherine Maud Martin
	💍 1896/3804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	96/117
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Nelson, Church of England

30 January 1896

Richard Forrest Dix
Emma Elizabeth Helen Chapman

Richard Porrett Dix
Emma Elizabeth Nelson Chapman
💍 1896/3782

Bachelor
Widow

Chemist

66
67

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

96/119

30 January 1896

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	30 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Forrest Dix	Emma Elizabeth Helen Chapman
BDM Match (90%)	Richard Porrett Dix	Emma Elizabeth Nelson Chapman
	💍 1896/3782
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Chemist
Age	66	67
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	96/119
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1896
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

30 January 1896

Edward Le Roy
Gertrude Faulkner

Edward Le Roy
Gertrude Falkner
💍 1896/3835

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker

30
26

Auckland
Newton

3 years
20 years

Foresters' Hall

96/99

30 January 1896

Rev. S. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	57
Date of Notice	30 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Le Roy	Gertrude Faulkner
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Le Roy	Gertrude Falkner
	💍 1896/3835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Newton
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Foresters' Hall
Folio	96/99
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Aldridge, Church of Christ

31 January 1896

Edmund Serjeant
Catherine Sinclair

Edmund Serjeant
Catherine Sinclair
💍 1896/4040

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

34
28

Auckland
Albert Street, Auckland

21 years
18 years

House of R. H. R. Hart

96/45

31 January 1896

Rev. R. I. Hawes, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	31 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Serjeant	Catherine Sinclair
	💍 1896/4040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Albert Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of R. H. R. Hart
Folio	96/45
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. I. Hawes, Presbyterian

31 January 1896

James Alfred Stichbury
Sophia Anne Workman

James Alfred Stichbury
Sophia Ann Workman
💍 1896/4060

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Builder

28
24

Auckland
Ponsonby

25 years
24 years

All Saints Church

96/70

31 January 1896

Rev. R. H. Edwards, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	31 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Stichbury	Sophia Anne Workman
BDM Match (97%)	James Alfred Stichbury	Sophia Ann Workman
	💍 1896/4060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Builder
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	96/70
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Edwards, Church of England

31 January 1896

Fredrick Ernst Kretschmar
Emily Spedding

Fredernell Ernest Kretschmar
Emily Spedding
💍 1896/3824

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

25
24

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
10 years

The Tabernacle

96/88

31 January 1896

Rev. J. Blaikie, Baptist

No	60
Date of Notice	31 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Ernst Kretschmar	Emily Spedding
BDM Match (89%)	Fredernell Ernest Kretschmar	Emily Spedding
	💍 1896/3824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Tabernacle
Folio	96/88
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blaikie, 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).