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 801

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1896 Registrar J.W. Parkinson

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
492	10 December 1896	Gloye Fredrick Alfeld Meta Schmidt	George Frederick Alfeld Meta Schmidt 💍 1896/2854	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Michael's Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch	96/3874		10 December 1896	Rev. A.W. Averill, Church of England
493	10 December 1896	Frederick Penberthy Mary Elizabeth Howe	Frederick Penberthy Mary Elizabeth Howe 💍 1896/2859	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	27 27	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 27 years	House of Mr. Gordon Howe, Nursery Road	96/3879		10 December 1896	Rev. J.W. Isitt, Wesleyan
494	10 December 1896	Frank Augustine Gray Catherine May Smith	Frank Agustine Green Catherine May Smith 💍 1896/3192	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	House of Mr. John Smith, Madras Street South	96/4061		10 December 1896	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan
495	11 December 1896	Herbert William Brown Kate Louisa Bigwood	Herbert William Brown Kate Louisa Bigwood 💍 1896/2951	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 19 years	Registrar's Office	96/3869	John Bigwood, Father	11 December 1896	Registrar J.W. Parkinson
496	14 December 1896	Henry Townend Hulme Jane Annie Williams	Harry Tounend Milnes Jane Annie Fortescue Williams 💍 1896/4906	Bachelor Spinster	Wood Turner	30 24	Christchurch Richmond	5 years 17 years	House of Mr. H.J. Hulme, Draper Street	96/3935		14 December 1896	Rev. J. Lusford, Wesleyan
497	14 December 1896	John Thomas Salton Elizabeth Hannah Bolton	John Thomas Sutton Elizabeth Hannah Weston 💍 1896/2927	Bachelor Spinster	Writer Tailoress	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 24 years	House of Mr. William Bolton, Antigua Street, Christchurch	96/3931		14 December 1896	Rev. C. Rimey, Wesleyan
498	14 December 1896	Frederick John Green Elizabeth Jane Gray	Frederic John Green Elizabeth Jane Craig 💍 1896/2874	Bachelor Spinster	Mason	32 22	Christchurch Sydenham	10 years 6 years	House of Mr. Charles Green, Madras Street	96/3902		14 December 1896	Rev. W.G. Parsons, Wesleyan
499	14 December 1896	Alfred Payne Pratt Annie Jane Hamilton	Alfred Payne Pratt Annie Jane Hamilton 💍 1896/2923	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	27 25	Christchurch Addington	20 years 6 years	St. Mary's Church	96/3927		14 December 1896	Rev. W.S. Dean, Church of England

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 1901. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).