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 799

District of Christchurch 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
477	27 November 1896	James Thomas Maine Edith Peter	James Thomas Maine Edith Peters 💍 1896/2972	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Bootmachinist	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 21 years	House of J.J. Maine, Lower High Street, Christchurch	96/3953		27 November 1896	Rev. F. McNicholl, Wesleyan
478	28 November 1896	George Ashton Rose Mathews	George Ashton Rose Mathews 💍 1896/3741	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	26 27	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 20 years	House of S. Elmshie, Lichfield Street, Christchurch	96/4753		28 November 1896	Rev. S. Elmshie, Presbyterian
479	30 November 1896	Edward Francis Johnston Bertha Jane Rapson	Edward Francis Johnston Bertha Jane Rapson Johns 💍 1896/2980	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 19 years	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Thomas Street, Christchurch	96/3957	Thomas John Rapson, father	30 November 1896	Rev. S. Webster, Presbyterian
480	1 December 1896	Edward William Marsh Esther Annie Swinbourne	Edward William Marsh Lestress Annie Swinbourne 💍 1897/4427	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 26 years	Church of England, Burwood	97/1777		1 December 1896	Rev. F.R. Burwood, Church of England
481	3 December 1896	John Graham Annie Grant	John Graham Annie Grant 💍 1896/2928	Bachelor Spinster	Porter Dressmaker	30 34	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	Church of England, Burwood	96/3909		3 December 1896	Rev. F.R. Burwood, Church of England
482	3 December 1896	William Smith Chudley Helen Edith Whitelaw	William Ernest Chudley Helen Edith Whitelaw 💍 1896/3639	Widower Spinster	Deedsman Saleswoman	34 26	Christchurch Christchurch	34 years 26 years	St. John's Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch	96/4744		3 December 1896	Rev. H.C.M. Watson, Church of England
483	3 December 1896	Leonard William Harley Florence Logan Wilkin	Leonard William Harley Florence Wynn Williams 💍 1896/2982	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	28 years 25 years	St. Mark's Church, Opawa	96/3959		3 December 1896	Rev. Archd. Cholmondeley, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).