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 717

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
414	2 December 1896	Henry Saxby Marnier Leonora Yore		Bachelor Spinster	Printer	31 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Joseph Church, Buckle Street	96/4350	Frank Yore, Father	2 December 1896	Rev. T. Devoy
415	2 December 1896	Edward John Aston Bertha Hyde	Edward John Aston Bertha Hyde 💍 1896/3505	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Emonsty, Wellington	96/4529		2 December 1896	Mr. E. Wyall
416	3 December 1896	William Henry Chapman Jessie Eliza Reid	William Henry Thomas Jessie Eliza Reid 💍 1896/4557	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's, Cathedral	96/4434		3 December 1896	Rev. J. H. Sprott
417	4 December 1896	Henry Archibald Callaghan Emily Amelia Murphy	Henry Archibald Callaghan Emily Amelia Murphy 💍 1896/3506	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4530		4 December 1896	Mr. E. Wyall
418	5 December 1896	Henry Lake Georgiana Mary Parker	Henry Lake Georgiana Mary Parker 💍 1896/3357	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	20 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	96/4388	Rosetta Lake, Mother	5 December 1896	Rev. W. Bamber
419	5 December 1896	Gustav Bjornstad Mary Farrar	Gustav Bjornstad May Farrar 💍 1896/3507	Widower Spinster	Civil Engineer	41 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4531		5 December 1896	Mr. E. Wyall
420	7 December 1896	William Alfred Biggs Annie Martha Gaten	William Alfred Biggs Annie Martha Yalden 💍 1896/3411	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr. Biggs, Webb Street	96/4407	William Biggs, Father	7 December 1896	Rev. James Guy
421	7 December 1896	Robert de Train Mary Brown	Robert McQuaid Mary Brown 💍 1896/3508 Robert London Sarah Brown 💍 1897/4512	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	21 22	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4532		7 December 1896	Mr. E. Wyall
422	8 December 1896	Robert Fergus Louisa Grimmo	Robert Fergus Louise Grimine 💍 1896/3509	Widower Spinster	Baker	46 40	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks 6 weeks	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4533		8 December 1896	Mr. E. Wyall
423	8 December 1896	John Smith Wilson Elizabeth Dalgleash	John Smith Wilson Elizabeth Dalglash Mowat 💍 1896/3644	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr. Wilson, Woolcombe Street	96/4729		8 December 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
424	9 December 1896	Charles William Galpin Florence Jane Turner	Charles William Galpin Florence Jane Turner 💍 1896/3643	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Home of Mr. Turner, Garnett Street	96/4728		9 December 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
425	9 December 1896	Alexander George Fraser Gertrude Inch	Alexander George Fraser Gertrude Inch 💍 1896/3510	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4534		9 December 1896	Mr. E. Wyall
426	10 December 1896	William Henry Jackson Rhoda Kate Morley	William Hunter Jackson Rhoda Kate Morley 💍 1896/3337	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	96/4390		10 December 1896	Rev. W. Bamber
427	11 December 1896	William Andrew Fuke Annie Hannah Wasley	William Andrew Feek Annie Hannah Wasley 💍 1896/3358	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	34 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Bridegroom, Cookway Place	96/4389		11 December 1896	Rev. W. Bamber
428	11 December 1896	John Walter Skelley Alice White	John Walter Skelley Alice White 💍 1896/3370	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr. White, Broughton Street	96/4355		11 December 1896	Rev. C. Dallaston

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).