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 778

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 June 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
24	25 April 1896	George Brook Winter Lilly Clement	George Brock Winter Lilly Clements 💍 1896/1031	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Independent	29 25	Bridge Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	2 days 25 years	Christchurch, Trafalgar Square, Nelson	96/1728	25 April 1896	J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
25	29 April 1896	Ormond Chamley Cooper Isobel Laura Mary Broad	Ormond Chomley Cooper Isobel Laura Mary Broad 💍 1896/1032	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	26 27	Ngatitama Street Nelson Ngatitama Street Nelson	3 days 27 years	St. Mary's Church, Manuka Street, Nelson	96/1729	29 April 1896	W. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
26	4 May 1896	Alfred Charles Cotton Rosa Barkett	Alfred Charles Cotton Rosa Bartlett 💍 1896/1033	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic duties	21 20	Halifax Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	21 years 14 days	Residence of R. S. Gray, Tasman Street, Nelson	96/1730	4 May 1896	R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister
27	6 May 1896	John Walter Proffitt Frances Mary Jeffers	John Deakin Proffitt Frances Mary Gapper 💍 1896/1034	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent Schoolteacher	26 18	Cambridge Street, Richmond Cambridge Street, Richmond	3 months 15 years	St. Mary's Church, Manuka Street, Nelson	96/1731	6 May 1896	W. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
28	2 June 1896	John Henry Mennell Harriet Jane Campbell	John Henry Mennell Harriet Jane Campbell 💍 1896/1035	Widower Spinster	Mining Engineer Domestic duties	37 20	Hardy Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	3 weeks 2 years and 9 months	Christchurch, Trafalgar Square, Nelson	96/1732	2 June 1896	J. P. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
29	13 June 1896	Archibald McKenzie Eleanor Jane Bruce	Archibald McKenzie Eleanor Jane Bruce 💍 1896/1036	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Tailoress	23 23	Wakefield Quay, Nelson Russell Street, Nelson	3 days 23 years	Residence of Alfred Bruce, Russell Street, Nelson	96/1733	13 June 1896	J. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister
30	17 June 1896	Frederick Alexander Sarah Mary Branford	Frederick Alexander Stevenson Sarah Marie Branford 💍 1896/1038	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Servant	30 27	Brook Street, Nelson Brook Street, Nelson	3 days 4 weeks	Residence of Sarah Branford, Brook Street, Nelson	96/1734	17 June 1896	S. T. Prior, Wesleyan Minister
31	25 June 1896	Wilfred Ernest Frank Edith Twist	Wilfred Ernest Frank Edith First 💍 1896/1039	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	23 27	Brook Street, Nelson New Street, Nelson	23 years 22 years	Residence of Annie Twist, New Street, Nelson	96/1735	25 June 1896	W. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest

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 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).