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 241

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1896

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
31	3 February 1896	Arthur Backhouse Jessie Draper	Arthur Backhouse Jessie Draper 💍 1896/4316	Bachelor Spinster	Telegrapher	20 20	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	House of Mrs. Draper, Taranaki Street	96/512	Mrs. Graham Backhouse, mother; Emma Jane Draper, mother	3 February 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
32	3 February 1896	Donald Macintyre Dorothy Isabella Macintyre	Donald MacInnes Dorothy Isabella Mathieson Clarke 💍 1896/4347	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	28 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Home of Mr. Macintyre, Lenaco	96/525		3 February 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
33	4 February 1896	William Farquhar Helen Gallie	William Farquhar Helen Gallie 💍 1896/164	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	37 29	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Home of Mr. Kelly, Tory Street	96/523		4 February 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
34	4 February 1896	Robert James Thompson Rose Hudd	Robert James Thompson Rose Hudd 💍 1896/4350	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Storeman	26 24	Wellington Wellington	4 months 4 months	House of the Angels, Ghuznee Street	96/528		4 February 1896	Rev. J. G. Ainsworth
35	4 February 1896	Samuel Wilson Marie Bromley	Samuel Wilson Marie Bramley 💍 1896/4334	Widower Spinster	Wool Broker	57 35	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 year	House of Mrs. Leard, Ghuznee Street	96/530		4 February 1896	Rev. C. Y. Ogg
36	4 February 1896	Harry James Tucker Kate Dorne	Harry James Tasker Kate Dorne 💍 1896/4275	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	30 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/469		4 February 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt
37	6 February 1896	Samuel Carlson Bridget Mary Durham	Samuel Carlson Bridget Mary Durham 💍 1896/4322	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	34 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 6 months	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/518		6 February 1896	Rev. J. H. Sprott
38	8 February 1896	John Costelloe Elizabeth Fitzgerald	John Costello Elizabeth Fitzgerald 💍 1896/4349	Bachelor Spinster	Warder	26 26	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mary of the Angels	96/527		8 February 1896	Rev. W. Goggan
39	10 February 1896	Daniel Crawford Delia Hearne	Daniel Crawford Delia Hearne 💍 1896/4276	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	35 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/470		10 February 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt
40	11 February 1896	Henry William French Lilian Mary Birch	Henry Willard-French Lilian Mary Birch 💍 1896/4446	Widower Spinster	Literary	41 24	Wellington Christchurch	6 months 1 year	House of Mr. Birch, Christchurch	96/709		11 February 1896	Rev. John Elmslie
41	14 February 1896	Ernest Daniel Drake Emma Harriet Green	Ernest Daniel Drake Emma Harriet Daniel 💍 1896/4319	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	26 25	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Home of Mrs. Drake, Vogel Street	96/515		14 February 1896	Rev. W. Baumber
42	15 February 1896	Donald Fraser Sarah Hambleton	Donald Fraser Sarah Hambleton 💍 1896/4351	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	35 25	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Andrew's Church	96/529		15 February 1896	Rev. C. Y. Ogg
43	15 February 1896	Edward Lyndon Elizabeth Morecroft	Edward Lyndon Elizabeth Merecroft 💍 1896/4318	Widower Widow	Land Agent	75 45	Wellington Wellington	4 days 10 days	St. Mark's Church	96/514		15 February 1896	Rev. R. Coffey
44	17 February 1896	Michael Hickey Norah Chalvihalo	Michael Hickey Norah Mulvihill 💍 1896/4348	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 27	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mary of the Angels	96/526		17 February 1896	Very Rev. J. Devoy
45	17 February 1896	Thomas Joseph Wilkinson Angelina Bliss	Thomas Joseph Wilkinson Angelina Bliss 💍 1896/4277	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	31 40	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/471		17 February 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).