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 797

District of Leicester 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
461	16 November 1896	Samuel Theimer Margaret Bishop	Samuel Skinner Serena Margaret Bishop 💍 1896/3638	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Tailoress	28 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 1 month	St. Johns Church	96/4743	16 November 1896	Rev. H. C. Watson, Church of England
462	17 November 1896	William Amount Marjory Robertson	William Annand Marjory Robertson 💍 1896/3739	Widower Spinster	Levels County Overseer	55 46	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 30 years	House of Mr. J. McIntosh	96/4751	17 November 1896	Rev. J. Plensie, Presbyterian
463	17 November 1896	David Ferguson Nelson Margaret Jane Burrow	David Ferguson Nelson Margaret Jane Burrow 💍 1896/2932	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	23 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 7 years	House of Mr. J. McIntosh	96/3914	17 November 1896	Rev. J. Gove, Presbyterian
464	19 November 1896	Walter Rowton Newton Christina Bloins	Walter Rowland Newton Christina Bevins 💍 1896/2944	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	28 27	Christchurch Christchurch	9 days 1 year	Registrar Office	96/3863	19 November 1896	Registrar of Marriages, Henry Adams
465	19 November 1896	George Hugh Woods Charlotte Annie Salt	George Hugh Woods Charlotte Annie Pratt 💍 1896/2870	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 22 years	Methodist Church, North High Street	96/3899	19 November 1896	Rev. L. Findley, Wesleyan
466	20 November 1896	William Stewart Jane Withill	William Stewart Jane Withell 💍 1896/2945 William Stewart Janet Hislop 💍 1896/2098 William Stewart Emma Elizabeth Hopkins 💍 1896/1888 William Stewart Helen McPherson 💍 1896/4783	Widower Spinster	Farmer	50 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 days	Registrar Office	96/3864	20 November 1896	Registrar of Marriages, Henry Adams
467	21 November 1896	John Rastrick Sarah Annie Whittington	John Rastrick Sarah Annie Whittington 💍 1896/2920	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 28	Christchurch Christchurch	32 years 3 weeks	St. Mary's Church	96/3925	21 November 1896	Rev. W. S. Bean, Church of England
468	21 November 1896	Morgan Laurenson Ruth Elizabeth Goss		Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 25 years	St. Mary's Church, Salisbury Street	96/3882	21 November 1896	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian

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).