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 319

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar J. J. W. Henderson

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

6 March 1896

George Goodwin Woodham
Florence Dawber

George Goodwin Woodham
Florence Dawber
💍 1896/4484

Widower
Spinster

Draper
Teacher

33
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 years

Congregational Church

96/756

6 March 1896

Rev. T. Tanguison, Congregational

No	92
Date of Notice	6 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Goodwin Woodham	Florence Dawber
	💍 1896/4484
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Teacher
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church
Folio	96/756
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Tanguison, Congregational

7 March 1896

William Youngman Dare
Elizabeth Horner

William Longman Earl
Elizabeth Horner
💍 1896/4013

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Operative

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
3 days

House of Mr. Horner

96/735

7 March 1896

Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan

No	93
Date of Notice	7 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Youngman Dare	Elizabeth Horner
BDM Match (91%)	William Longman Earl	Elizabeth Horner
	💍 1896/4013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Operative
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Horner
Folio	96/735
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harrison, Wesleyan

7 March 1896

George William Bennett
Ethel Ernestine Nevin

George William Bennett
Ethel Ernestine Niven
💍 1896/4619

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Minister

31
26

Christchurch
Oamaru

8 years
4 years

St. Luke's Church

96/1028

7 March 1896

Rev. Canon Gould, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	7 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Bennett	Ethel Ernestine Nevin
BDM Match (95%)	George William Bennett	Ethel Ernestine Niven
	💍 1896/4619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Minister
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Oamaru
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio	96/1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Gould, Church of England

9 March 1896

William Albert Howell
Ann Reeves

William Albert Howell
Ann Reeves
💍 1896/4422

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 months
22 years

Registrar's Office

96/668

9 March 1896

Registrar of Marriages, J. J. Henderson

No	95
Date of Notice	9 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Howell	Ann Reeves
	💍 1896/4422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	96/668
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J. J. Henderson

9 March 1896

Edwin Blake
Kate Barker

Edwin Blake
Kate Barker
💍 1896/4485

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

65
42

Christchurch
Christchurch

30 years
10 years

St. John's Church

96/757

9 March 1896

Rev. Arch. Allnutt, Church of England

No	96
Date of Notice	9 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Blake	Kate Barker
	💍 1896/4485
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	65	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	96/757
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. Allnutt, Church of England

11 March 1896

George Brown
Margaret Heuter

George Brown
Margaret Hunter Wakeham
💍 1896/4486

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman
Tailoress

31
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
1 year

House of Mr. G. Brown, Sydenham

96/758

11 March 1896

Rev. G. A. Williams, Baptist

No	97
Date of Notice	11 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brown	Margaret Heuter
BDM Match (78%)	George Brown	Margaret Hunter Wakeham
	💍 1896/4486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman	Tailoress
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Mr. G. Brown, Sydenham
Folio	96/758
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Williams, Baptist

11 March 1896

Alexander Henry McIntosh
Lydia Brocklehurst

Alexander Henry McIntosh
Lysia Brocklehurst
💍 1896/4487

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

38
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
23 years

House of Mr. G. Brocklehurst, Sydenham

96/759

11 March 1896

Rev. D. Baller, Congregational

No	98
Date of Notice	11 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Henry McIntosh	Lydia Brocklehurst
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Henry McIntosh	Lysia Brocklehurst
	💍 1896/4487
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. G. Brocklehurst, Sydenham
Folio	96/759
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Baller, Congregational

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).