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 736

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1896 Registrar W. S. Wyatt

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
144	29 April 1896	Fred Longard Maria Mary Oliver	Fred Lingard Maria Mary Oliver 💍 1896/862	Bachelor Spinster	Currier	24 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1612	Alfred Oliver, Father	29 April 1896	Mr. D. W. Wyatt
145	29 April 1896	Frederick Ramburg Ethie Watson	Frederick Lamberg Ethie Watson 💍 1896/863	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	40 35	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Branagan, Drummond Street	96/1613		29 April 1896	Mr. A. F. Turner
146	30 April 1896	Charles Baker Caroline Englert	Charles Baker Caroline Englert 💍 1896/864	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 22	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 1 Week	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1614		30 April 1896	Mr. D. W. Wyatt
147	30 April 1896	Isaac Hook Sarah Caroline Thwaites	Isaac Hook Sarah Caroline Stratton 💍 1896/865	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 19	Nireaha Nireaha	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1615	Jemima Thwaites, Mother	30 April 1896	Mr. D. W. Wyatt
148	1 May 1896	Henry Thompson Ada Gouthes	Henry Sampson Ada Southee 💍 1896/866	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 18	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1616	Robert Gouthes, Father	1 May 1896	Mr. D. W. Wyatt
149	2 May 1896	Thomas Fyfe Mary Annie Peake	Thomas Fyfe Mary Anne Peake 💍 1896/867	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	25 24	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	St. John's Presbyterian Church	96/1617		2 May 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
150	4 May 1896	Henry Baker Hannah Maria Hughes	Henry Baker Hannah Maria Hughes 💍 1896/4714	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	23 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Columbia Skating Rink, Ingestre Street	96/1618		4 May 1896	Mr. R. E. Edwards
151	4 May 1896	Charles Cress Maude Minnie Louise Marks	Charles Cress Maude Minnie Louise Morris 💍 1896/845	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	31 24	Wellington Wellington	2 years 4 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1619		4 May 1896	Mr. D. W. Wyatt
152	5 May 1896	William George Fisher Mary Emina	William George Fisher Mary Cimino 💍 1896/846	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/1620		5 May 1896	Rev. D. H. Sprott
153	7 May 1896	Frederick Astrom Jane Budding	Frederick Hammond Jane Wilkins 💍 1896/2812	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	35 30	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1621		7 May 1896	Mr. D. W. Wyatt
154	8 May 1896	Edwin Willcock Annie Dykes	Edwin Wilcock Annie Dykes 💍 1896/848	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	34 24	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	Church	96/1622		8 May 1896	Rev. R. Coffee
155	9 May 1896	Charles Dixon Margaret Donaldson	Charles Dixon Margaret Donaldson Wylie 💍 1896/849	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1623		9 May 1896	Mr. D. W. Wyatt
156	11 May 1896	William Dale Sarah Carroll	William Dale Sarah Carroll 💍 1896/850	Bachelor Spinster	Asylum Attendant	33 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Secretary of the Angels	96/1624		11 May 1896	Very Rev. J. Devoy
157	11 May 1896	George William Kirk Eliza Helen Birdson	George William Kirk Morley Eliza Helen Bridson 💍 1896/851	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	26 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Birdson, Stokes Street	96/1625		11 May 1896	Rev. W. Bamford
158	11 May 1896	Theodore Wright Rebecca Ann Goes	Theodore Wright Leslie Rebecca Ann Goer 💍 1896/852	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	96/1626		11 May 1896	Rev. W. C. Waters

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 1899. 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).