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

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
36	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
37	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
38	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
39	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
40	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
41	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
42	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

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).