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 320

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
99	11 March 1896	Frederick James Parker West Kate Heap	Frederick James Parnell West Kate Heap 💍 1896/4464	Bachelor Widow	Printer	34 36	Christchurch Christchurch	33 years 3 years	House of Mrs. W. Heap, 96 Barbados St., Christchurch	96/260		11 March 1896	Rev. J. Baker, Congregational
100	12 March 1896	Charles Ernest Page Margaret Findlay	Charles Ernest Page Margaret Findlay 💍 1896/4465	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 3 years	House of Mr. Geo. Findlay, North Belt, Christchurch	96/261		12 March 1896	Rev. F. Henstock, Presbyterian
101	12 March 1896	Alfred William Buxton Daisy Annie Brown	Alfred William Buxton Emily Ann Brown 💍 1896/4009	Bachelor Spinster	Nurseryman Dressmaker	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church, Papanui Rd., St. Albans	96/731		12 March 1896	Rev. J. A. Luxford, Wesleyan
102	13 March 1896	Richard Waterhouse Louisa Bone		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	37 26	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 13 years	Wesleyan Church, Windsor	96/732		13 March 1896	Rev. J. A. Luxford, Wesleyan
103	13 March 1896	George Harry Robinson Emma Elizabeth Thorn	George Harry Robinson Emma Elizabeth Shaw 💍 1896/4709	Bachelor Spinster	Bottler Milliner	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 10 years	Church of Good Shepherd, Phillipstown	96/792		13 March 1896	Rev. H. J. C. Gilbert, Church of England
104	16 March 1896	Robert Frisby Sarah Slade	Robert Frisby Sarah Slade 💍 1896/4431	Widower Widow	Farmer Housekeeper	58 49	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 days	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	96/669		16 March 1896	Registrar of Marriages
105	16 March 1896	George Kettlewell Mary Violet Allan	George Kettlewell Mary Violet Allan 💍 1896/4466	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Broker	37 20	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 20 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	96/762	Robert Allan, father	16 March 1896	Rev. H. Lingard, 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).