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 794

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
437	4 November 1896	Walter Edward Goodwin James Mary Ann Iles	Walter Edward Goodwin Tamar Mary Ann Iles 💍 1896/2869	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 20	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 4 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	96/3898	John Iles, Father	4 November 1896	Rev. W. Tinsley, Wesleyan
437	4 November 1896	Thomas William Lee Mary Ryder	Thomas William Lee Mary Ryders 💍 1896/2926	Bachelor Widow	Engineer	31 33	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Methodist Church, Addington	96/3930		4 November 1896	Rev. C. Penney, Methodist
438	5 November 1896	Henry Hamilton Loughnan Mary Ethel Burns	Henry Hamilton Loughnan Mary Ethel Burnes 💍 1896/3177	Widower Spinster	Barrister	47 28	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 2 weeks	Roman Catholic Church, Tuam Street	96/4070		5 November 1896	Rev. W. J. Davis, Roman Catholic
439	5 November 1896	Arthur Davis Margaret Hadfield	Arthur Davis Orange Margaret Hadfield 💍 1896/3737	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger Machinist	26 27	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 3 years	House of Rev. F. Menzies, Lichfield Street, Christchurch	96/4749		5 November 1896	Rev. F. Menzies, Presbyterian
441	7 November 1896	Harry Collins Minnie Clifford	Henry Collins Minnie Clifford 💍 1896/3190	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 19 years	Wesleyan Church, Madras Street, Christchurch	96/4059	Clifford, Father	7 November 1896	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan Methodist
442	10 November 1896	Thomas William Richmond Mary Eleanor Calvert	Thomas William Richmond Mary Eleanor Calvert 💍 1896/2933	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Machinist	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 24 years	House of Mrs. Calvert, Byron Street, Sydenham	96/3915		10 November 1896	Rev. R. S. Allan, Presbyterian
443	10 November 1896	Josiah Edmund Malone Annie Clarke	Josiah Edmund Malone Annie Clarke 💍 1896/3637	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	35 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 months 2 months	St. John's Church	96/4742		10 November 1896	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England
444	10 November 1896	David George Clifford Jane Simpson	David George McGifford Jane Simpson 💍 1896/3738	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 24 years	House of Rev. S. Elmslie, Lichfield Street, Christchurch	96/4750		10 November 1896	Rev. S. Elmslie, 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).