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 240

District of Wellington 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
16	20 January 1896	Alfred Clark Annie Augusta Viday	Alfred Clarke Annie Augusta Sidey 💍 1896/4329	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. James Church, Adelaide Road	96/506		20 January 1896	Rev. W. Therer
17	21 January 1896	William Slater Ellen Maud Curtis	William Slater Ellen Maud Curtis 💍 1896/4330	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr. George Curtis, Adelaide Terrace	96/507		21 January 1896	Rev. R. J. Murray
18	23 January 1896	George Illingworth Catherine Chalmers	George Illingworth Catherine Chalmers 💍 1896/4327	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	25 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr. A. F. Turner	96/504		23 January 1896	Mr. A. F. Turner
19	23 January 1896	William George Lawrence Mary Jessie Fables	William George Lawrence Mary Jessie Forbes 💍 1896/4328	Bachelor Spinster	Timber Planter	38 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 months	St. John's Church, Willis Street	96/505		23 January 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
20	23 January 1896	James Rea Hannah Henrietta Mowbray	James Rea Hannah Henrietta Moody 💍 1896/4271	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/466		23 January 1896	W. Dwygall
21	24 January 1896	Arthur Justin Jane Sarah Furly	Arthur Tustin Jane Sarah Furly 💍 1896/4272	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	27 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/467		24 January 1896	W. Dwygall
22	27 January 1896	James Wallace Jones Tamar Webb	James Wallace Jones Tamar Webb 💍 1896/4331	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	36 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church, Denato, McLean Street	96/508	Joseph Webb, father	27 January 1896	Rev. James Guy
23	27 January 1896	Maurice Ziman Annie Lewis	Frederick Myer Solomons Annie Lewis 💍 1896/2837	Bachelor Widow	Pawn Broker	31 39	Wellington Wellington	years years	Hebrew Synagogue	96/493		27 January 1896	Rev. H. Van Staveren
24	27 January 1896	Charles Ernest Regg Cecilia Elizabeth Wootton	Charles Ernest Rigg Cecilia Elizabeth Wootton Gill 💍 1896/4302	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	23 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	96/497		27 January 1896	Rev. J. H. Sprott
25	27 January 1896	Henry Arthur Picken Alice Ada Retter	Henry Arthur Pickin Alice Ada Retter 💍 1896/4298	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	21 25	Johnsonville Johnsonville	1 year years	Wesley Parsonage	96/494		27 January 1896	Rev. W. Bamford
26	28 January 1896	Andrew Honeyman Mary Adelaide Meade	Andrew Honeyman Bennie Mary Adelaide Zueate 💍 1896/4273	Widower Spinster	Hotel Keeper	37 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/468		28 January 1896	W. Dwygall
27	30 January 1896	Henry William Agate Maria Collins	Henry William Agate Maria Collins 💍 1896/4278 William Pratt Martha Collins 💍 1896/2241	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/472		30 January 1896	W. Dwygall
28	30 January 1896	George Henry Fisher Margarita Cimino	George Henry Fisher Margarita Cimino 💍 1896/4332	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	96/509		30 January 1896	Rev. P. C. Costello
29	31 January 1896	Charles Robert Kirkham Mary Grace Page	Charles Robert Kirkland Stuart Mary Ellett Page 💍 1896/4314	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	27 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	96/510		31 January 1896	Rev. R. Coffey
30	1 February 1896	James Killoch Allison Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Nolan	James Killoch Allison Elizabeth Sarah Ellen Nolan 💍 1896/4315	Bachelor Spinster	Salvation Army Officer	34 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 months	The Salvation Army Rink	96/511		1 February 1896	Mr. Reuben Edwards

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).