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 792

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
423	22 October 1896	William Arthur Jennens Thomasin Vigars Banfield	William Arthur Jennens Thomasina Vigois Banfield 💍 1896/3719	Bachelor Spinster	Mercer Private	27 23	Christchurch Linwood	3 years 3 weeks	House of Mr. Wa. Jennens, Cashel St.	96/4608		22 October 1896	Rev. F. W. Isitt, Wesleyan
424	23 October 1896	William Freeman Mary Beck	William Freeman Mary Beck 💍 1896/2915	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Domestic	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 4 days	Salvation Army Barracks	96/3920		23 October 1896	Mr. Ernest Knight, Salvation Army Officer
425	23 October 1896	James Rice Betts Mary Jane Betts	James Rice Belts Mary Jane Betts 💍 1896/3435	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Operator	24 21	Christchurch Sydenham	20 years 6 years	St. Saviours Church	96/4487		23 October 1896	Rev. R. A. Scott, Church of England
426	24 October 1896	Henry Charles Jenner Mary Elizabeth Sutton	Henry Charles Jenner Mary Elizabeth Sutton 💍 1896/3736	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 6 years	House of Mr. Geo: Jenner, Colombo St. Church	96/4748		24 October 1896	Rev. F. Plenslie, Presbyterian
427	26 October 1896	James Larner Cork Jane Gilbert	James Larner Jane Cork Gilbert 💍 1896/4904	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	53 45	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 11 days	House of Rev. J. M. Nicoll, Chester St. Church	96/3951		26 October 1896	Rev. J. M. Nicoll, Wesleyan
428	27 October 1896	Nathaniel Amido Lena Claussen	Nathaniel Amido Lena Clausen 💍 1896/4903	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Dressmaker	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 22 years	Episcopalian Church	96/3933		27 October 1896	Rev. H. S. Purchas, Church of England
429	28 October 1896	David Dunbar Pearce Louisa Pearce	David Dunbar Emma Louisa Pearce 💍 1896/2852 William Bailey Louisa Pearce 💍 1896/3831	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Machinist	26 21	Christchurch Richmond	4 days 20 years	House of Mr. Wm. Pearce, Loudon St.	96/3881	William Pearce, Father	28 October 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).