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 340

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar William Thoroghan

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

24 January 1896

John August Herman
Catherine Faulls

John August Herman Theodore Grosse
Catherine Faulls
💍 1896/4502

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

30
19

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

5 years
4 months

House of Mr Thomas, Oxford Street, Lyttelton

96/800

Patrick Faulls, Father

24 January 1896

Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	24 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John August Herman	Catherine Faulls
BDM Match (76%)	John August Herman Theodore Grosse	Catherine Faulls
	💍 1896/4502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	5 years	4 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr Thomas, Oxford Street, Lyttelton
Folio	96/800
Consent	Patrick Faulls, Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister

1 February 1896

John Robert Thompson Henderson
Mary Emma Whitford

John Robert Thompson Henderson
Mary Emma Whitford
💍 1896/4510

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

20 years
20 years

House of Gideon Henderson, Bramin Harbour, Lyttelton

96/801

1 February 1896

Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Thompson Henderson	Mary Emma Whitford
	💍 1896/4510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Gideon Henderson, Bramin Harbour, Lyttelton
Folio	96/801
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Treadwell, Presbyterian Minister

1 February 1896

John Charles McKellie
Agnes Madden
formerly McKellie Widow

John Charles McNeillie
Agnes Madden
💍 1896/4529

Bachelor

Seaman
Housekeeper

20
30

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

7 months
10 years

St. Josephs, Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

96/804

1 February 1896

Rev. V. M. Salvador, Roman Catholic Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	1 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles McKellie	Agnes Madden formerly McKellie Widow
BDM Match (95%)	John Charles McNeillie	Agnes Madden
	💍 1896/4529
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Seaman	Housekeeper
Age	20	30
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	7 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Josephs, Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	96/804
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. M. Salvador, Roman Catholic Minister

10 February 1896

John William Woodbury
Mary Elizabeth Herbedge

John William Woodbury
Mary Elizabeth Derbidge
💍 1896/4521

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 years
25 years

St. Saviours, Anglican Church, Lyttelton

96/802

10 February 1896

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	10 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Woodbury	Mary Elizabeth Herbedge
BDM Match (96%)	John William Woodbury	Mary Elizabeth Derbidge
	💍 1896/4521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours, Anglican Church, Lyttelton
Folio	96/802
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

11 March 1896

James Clarendon Ramstottom Isherwood
Amy Isabel Ayers

James Clarendon Ramsbottom Isherwood
Amy Isabell Ayers
💍 1896/2121

Bachelor
Spinster

N.Z. Artillery

24
23

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 years
23 years

St. Saviours, Church, Lyttelton

11 March 1896

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	11 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Clarendon Ramstottom Isherwood	Amy Isabel Ayers
BDM Match (96%)	James Clarendon Ramsbottom Isherwood	Amy Isabell Ayers
	💍 1896/2121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	N.Z. Artillery
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours, Church, Lyttelton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

23 March 1896

Luke Buckley
Mary Hannah Newton

Luke Buckley
Mary Hannah Newton
💍 1896/4528

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
30

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

20 years
20 years

St. Saviours, Church, Lyttelton

96/803

23 March 1896

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

No	6
Date of Notice	23 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Luke Buckley	Mary Hannah Newton
	💍 1896/4528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours, Church, Lyttelton
Folio	96/803
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

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).