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 019

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1896

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

5 February 1896

Frederick John Naismith
Helen Mabel Blanche Litt

Frederick John Naysmith
Helen Mabel Blanche Litt
💍 1896/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

36
44

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

96/23

5 February 1896

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	68
Date of Notice	5 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Naismith	Helen Mabel Blanche Litt
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick John Naysmith	Helen Mabel Blanche Litt
	💍 1896/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	36	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	96/23
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1896
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

5 February 1896

Sydney Herbert Gilliland
Sarah Jane Harris

Sydney Herbert Gilliland
Sarah Jane Harris
💍 1896/4068

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

14 years
18 years

House of Rev. G. H. Grace, Eden Terrace

96/53

5 February 1896

Rev. G. H. Grace, Pres. Minister

No	69
Date of Notice	5 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Herbert Gilliland	Sarah Jane Harris
	💍 1896/4068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. G. H. Grace, Eden Terrace
Folio	96/53
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Grace, Pres. Minister

7 February 1896

Josiah Flower Carter
Mary Ann Evans

Josiah Flower Carter
Mary Ann Evans
💍 1896/4061

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

37
35

Waihi
Auckland

18 years
3 years

All Saints Church

96/71

7 February 1896

Rev. H. Calder, Church of Eng.

No	70
Date of Notice	7 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Flower Carter	Mary Ann Evans
	💍 1896/4061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	96/71
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Calder, Church of Eng.

8 February 1896

Hubert Francis Cox
Edith Florence Bankart

Hubert Francis Cox
Edith Florence Bankart
💍 1896/4057

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

29
23

Te Aroha
Auckland

14 years
8 years

St. Mary's Church, Parnell

96/67

8 February 1896

Rev. H. Beatty, Church of Eng.

No	71
Date of Notice	8 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Francis Cox	Edith Florence Bankart
	💍 1896/4057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Parnell
Folio	96/67
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beatty, Church of Eng.

10 February 1896

Arthur Samuel Holmes
Fanny Gertrude Bower

Arthur Samuel Holmes
Fanny Gertrude Bowen
💍 1896/3821

Widower
Spinster

Store Keeper

34
25

Mangonui
Auckland

7 years
6 years

St. Paul's Cathedral

96/110

10 February 1896

Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of Eng.

No	72
Date of Notice	10 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Samuel Holmes	Fanny Gertrude Bower
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Samuel Holmes	Fanny Gertrude Bowen
	💍 1896/3821
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Store Keeper
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Mangonui	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Cathedral
Folio	96/110
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of Eng.

10 February 1896

David Eagleson
Mary Obulgine Preston

David Eagleson
Mary Obuglins
💍 1896/3788

Widower
Spinster

Stoker

31
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

96/24

10 February 1896

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	73
Date of Notice	10 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Eagleson	Mary Obulgine Preston
BDM Match (76%)	David Eagleson	Mary Obuglins
	💍 1896/3788
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Stoker
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	96/24
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1896
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

10 February 1896

Henry Budge Dummet
Emily Macindoe

Henry Budge Dunnett
Emily Macindoe
💍 1896/4062

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

40
24

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
24 years

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

96/72

10 February 1896

Rev. H. L. Edwards, Church of Eng.

No	74
Date of Notice	10 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Budge Dummet	Emily Macindoe
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Budge Dunnett	Emily Macindoe
	💍 1896/4062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	96/72
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Edwards, Church of Eng.

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).