Intentions to Marry, 1896 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840410, 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 713

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
354	26 October 1896	Leonard Alexander Hobbs Christina Hansen	Leonard Alexander Hobbs Christina Hansen 💍 1896/3444	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 18	Herokui Road Wellington	5 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4515		7 November 1896	M. W. Wyall
355	26 October 1896	Philip John Hocquard Mary Ellen Pudney	Philip John Hayward Mary Ellen Pudney 💍 1896/3362	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	27 21	Wellington Wellington	1 Week	St. Marks Church	96/4391		26 October 1896	Rev. R. Coffey
356	26 October 1896	Charles Perm Lucy Sarah Woollams	Charles Penn Lucy Sarah Wooldridge 💍 1896/3369	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	39 41	Wellington Wellington	4 years 2 Weeks	St. Peter's Church	96/4378		26 October 1896	Rev. W. C. Waters
357	26 October 1896	William Tulloch Christina Deubel	William Talbut Christina Deibert 💍 1896/4541	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	23 24	Wellington Wellington	1 year	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/4431		26 October 1896	Rev. T. H. Sprott
358	26 October 1896	Robert Read Clara Louisa Wagwick	Robert Read Clara Louisa Sidgwick 💍 1896/3371	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 22	Wellington Wellington	2 years	St. Peter's Church	96/4379		26 October 1896	Rev. W. C. Waters
359	27 October 1896	James Webster Emma Emma Fisher	James Webster Mathieson Laura Emma Fisher 💍 1896/3410	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Officer	24 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/4430		27 October 1896	Rev. T. H. Sprott
360	27 October 1896	James Edward Loney Winifred Ann Taylor	James Edward Tovey Winifred Ann Taylor 💍 1896/3578	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	28 22	Wellington Wellington	5 months 10 months	Home of Eliza Taylor, Cambridge Terrace	96/4638		27 October 1896	Rev. C. Y. Ogg
361	27 October 1896	Hugh Templeton Clark Mary Horrie Nixon	Hugh Templeton Clark Mary Louise Nixon 💍 1896/3378	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	24 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years	House of Eliza Nixon, Home Street	96/4368	Mary Ann Sophia Nixon, Mother	27 October 1896	Rev. M. L. Einer
362	29 October 1896	William Archibald Parton Florence Hutchings	William Archibald Parton Florence Hutchings 💍 1896/3360	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Home of E. M. Hutchings, Sussex Square	96/4369		29 October 1896	Rev. J. K. Edie
363	29 October 1896	Robert Barty Sarah Barty	Robert Bailey Sarah Bailey 💍 1896/3441	Bachelor Spinster	Tinker	35 35	Wellington Wellington	1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4512		29 October 1896	M. W. Wyall
364	29 October 1896	John Butler Kate Doherty	John Butler Kate Doherty 💍 1896/3403	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 20	Petone Petone	1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	96/4419		29 October 1896	Rev. John Lane
365	29 October 1896	John James Marshall Annie Burnen	John James Marshall Annie Burrow 💍 1896/3373	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Wesleyan Church, Wairarapa	96/4357		29 October 1896	Rev. Joseph H. Gray
366	31 October 1896	Thomas Dorgan Alice Bromard	Theo Dorgan Alice Bronard 💍 1896/3320	Widower Spinster	Farmer	34 24	Wellington Wellington	1 month 2 Weeks	St. Mary of the Angels	96/4346		31 October 1896	Very Rev. T. D. O'Reilly
367	31 October 1896	Alfred Chapman Catherine Louisa Aston	Alfred Chynoweth Catherine Theresa Asher 💍 1896/3442	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	24 27	Wellington Wellington	1 month 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4513		31 October 1896	M. W. Wyall
368	31 October 1896	Thomas Alfred Bowler Jane Elizabeth Robinson	Thomas Alfred Bowler Jane Elizabeth Robinson 💍 1896/3327	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 21	Johnsonville Ngahauranga	4 years	House of Mrs. Read, Ngahauranga	96/4352		31 October 1896	Rev. A. B. Chappie

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).