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 310

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar J. Moullesson

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

28 January 1896

Frank Ernest Prebble
Mabel Hermon

Frank Ernest Prebble
Mabel Humm
💍 1896/4433

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
21 years

All Saints Church

96/671

28 January 1896

Rev. W. H. Knowles, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	28 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Ernest Prebble	Mabel Hermon
BDM Match (83%)	Frank Ernest Prebble	Mabel Humm
	💍 1896/4433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	96/671
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Knowles, Church of England

29 January 1896

William Counselly
Mary Rowe

William Connelly
Mary Rowe
💍 1896/4025

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

35
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
14 years

Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary

96/724

29 January 1896

Rev. M. J. Marmon, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	29 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Counselly	Mary Rowe
BDM Match (94%)	William Connelly	Mary Rowe
	💍 1896/4025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary
Folio	96/724
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Marmon, Roman Catholic

29 January 1896

Herbert John Boweller
Amy Lilian Roans

Herbert John Bowlker
Amy Lilian Evans
💍 1896/4450

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
23 years

Wesleyan Church

96/694

29 January 1896

Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan

No	38
Date of Notice	29 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Boweller	Amy Lilian Roans
BDM Match (89%)	Herbert John Bowlker	Amy Lilian Evans
	💍 1896/4450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	96/694
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan

29 January 1896

Herbert Harold Allison
Edith Vrates

Herbert Harold Allison
Edith Keates
💍 1896/4458

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
9 years

St. Mary's Church

96/698

29 January 1896

Rev. W. J. Bean, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	29 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Harold Allison	Edith Vrates
BDM Match (92%)	Herbert Harold Allison	Edith Keates
	💍 1896/4458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	96/698
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Bean, Church of England

1 February 1896

Henry Frank Pemberton
Isabella Armstrong

Henry Frank Penlington
Isabella Armstrong
💍 1896/4697

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

24
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

Holy Trinity Church

96/695

1 February 1896

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	1 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frank Pemberton	Isabella Armstrong
BDM Match (89%)	Henry Frank Penlington	Isabella Armstrong
	💍 1896/4697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	96/695
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

1 February 1896

Charles Younson
Elizabeth Annie Payne

Charles Tomson
Elizabeth Annie Payne
💍 1896/4430

Widower
Spinster

Builder

56
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

24 years
37 years

House of Mrs. Pratt

96/692

1 February 1896

Rev. J. Rawson, Methodist

No	41
Date of Notice	1 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Younson	Elizabeth Annie Payne
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Tomson	Elizabeth Annie Payne
	💍 1896/4430
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	56	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	37 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Pratt
Folio	96/692
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rawson, Methodist

3 February 1896

Robert Turner Melhuish
Mary Decartly Melhuish

Robert Turner Melhuish
Mary Quartley Melhuish
💍 1896/4456

Widower
Spinster

Draper

49
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
10 days

St. Mary's Church

96/696

3 February 1896

Rev. E. J. Merton, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	3 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Turner Melhuish	Mary Decartly Melhuish
BDM Match (91%)	Robert Turner Melhuish	Mary Quartley Melhuish
	💍 1896/4456
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	49	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	96/696
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Merton, Church of England

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).