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 314

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar J. J. M. Woulfe

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

12 February 1896

Albert Hunter Cooper
Rosina Harriet Errington

Albert Hunter Cooper
Rosina Harriet Errington
💍 1896/4445

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Operative

21
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church, North Belt, Christchurch

96/708

W. Errington, Father

12 February 1896

Rev. R. Prussic, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	12 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Hunter Cooper	Rosina Harriet Errington
	💍 1896/4445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Operative
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North Belt, Christchurch
Folio	96/708
Consent	W. Errington, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Prussic, Presbyterian

13 February 1896

Thomas Isaacs
Catherine Annie Teffs

Thomas Burns
Catherine Annie Tuft
💍 1896/4441

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

St. Mary's Church, Merivale, Christchurch

96/704

George Teffs, Father

13 February 1896

Rev. C. J. Winton, Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	13 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Isaacs	Catherine Annie Teffs
BDM Match (74%)	Thomas Burns	Catherine Annie Tuft
	💍 1896/4441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Merivale, Christchurch
Folio	96/704
Consent	George Teffs, Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Winton, Church of England

13 February 1896

Joseph Brooke
Daisy Brown

Joseph Brooks
Daisy Bown
💍 1896/4699

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer

23
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
8 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

96/720

George Brown, Father

13 February 1896

Rev. A. Desegard, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	13 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Brooke	Daisy Brown
BDM Match (92%)	Joseph Brooks	Daisy Bown
	💍 1896/4699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	96/720
Consent	George Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Desegard, Church of England

13 February 1896

Herbert John Thomas Halliburton
Jessie Black

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

23
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years
10 years

House of Rev. F. Hensley, Lichfield St., Christchurch

96/707

Thomas Palethorpe, Guardian

13 February 1896

Rev. F. Hensley, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	13 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Thomas Halliburton	Jessie Black
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. Hensley, Lichfield St., Christchurch
Folio	96/707
Consent	Thomas Palethorpe, Guardian
Date of Certificate	13 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Hensley, Presbyterian

14 February 1896

Archibald Allison Brown
Ruth Cuff

Archibald Allison Brown
Ruth Cuff
💍 1896/4677

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

31
20

Ship 'Yourana'
Christchurch

20 years

Holy Trinity Church, Avonside, Christchurch

96/721

Cornelius Cuff, Father

14 February 1896

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	61
Date of Notice	14 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Allison Brown	Ruth Cuff
	💍 1896/4677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Ship 'Yourana'	Christchurch
Length of Residence		20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Avonside, Christchurch
Folio	96/721
Consent	Cornelius Cuff, Father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

14 February 1896

John Hoare
Catherine Dawson

James Hoare
Catherine Meehan
💍 1896/312

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic

29
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
29 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester St., Christchurch

96/722

14 February 1896

Rev. W. T. Meenan, Roman Catholic

No	62
Date of Notice	14 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hoare	Catherine Dawson
BDM Match (66%)	James Hoare	Catherine Meehan
	💍 1896/312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manchester St., Christchurch
Folio	96/722
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. T. Meenan, Roman Catholic

14 February 1896

Alfred James Hawtin
Mary Louisa Bailey

Alfred James Hawtin
Mary Louisa Bailey
💍 1896/4443

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

29
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
18 years

House of A. J. Hawtin, Barbadoes St., Christchurch

96/706

14 February 1896

Mr. R. Knight, Salvation Army Officer

No	63
Date of Notice	14 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Hawtin	Mary Louisa Bailey
	💍 1896/4443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of A. J. Hawtin, Barbadoes St., Christchurch
Folio	96/706
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Mr. R. Knight, Salvation Army Officer

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 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).