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 714

District of Wellington 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
369	2 November 1896	George Boesley Agnes Headefen	George Bolsley Agnes Headifen 💍 1896/3530	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Boesley, Elizabeth Street	96/4578		2 November 1896	Rev. Josiah Ward
370	2 November 1896	Frederick Blair Grace Ellen Moran	Frederick Blair Grace Ellen Moran 💍 1896/3350	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 18	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Moran, Wager's Lane	96/4404		2 November 1896	Rev. James Guy
371	3 November 1896	George Corone Ellen Jane Jepson	George Crone Ellen Jane Jefcott 💍 1896/3354 George Weir Millar Ellen Jane Swanson 💍 1896/3421	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 1 year	Wesley Parsonage, Taranaki Street	96/4385		3 November 1896	Rev. W. Baumber
372	4 November 1896	Herbert Wakeman Clara Beatrice Luke	Herbert Wakeman Clara Beatrice Luke 💍 1896/3351	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	21 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Luke, Aro Street	96/4405	John Luke, father	4 November 1896	M. D. Wryall
373	4 November 1896	William Reid Jane Ann Hasler	William Reid Jane Ann Hasler 💍 1896/3443	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4514		4 November 1896	M. D. Wryall
374	5 November 1896	Laurence Arens Wilhelmina Amanda From		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Rev. Mr. Paterson's House, Wellington Terrace	96/4725		5 November 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
375	6 November 1896	George Coo Marie Dalijensen	George Coe Marie Dortee Jansen 💍 1896/3560	Bachelor Spinster	Shipwright	26 23	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 year	Presbyterian Church, Wellington Terrace	96/4639		6 November 1896	Rev. C. I. Hogg
376	6 November 1896	Frederick James Ringha Clara Emily Mary Hale	Frederick James Bingham Clara Emily Mary Hall 💍 1896/3375	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 31	Wellington Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Hale, Lower Hutt	96/4359		6 November 1896	Rev. A. Gray
377	7 November 1896	George Archibald Meek Alice Maud Hill	George Archibald Scott Alice Maude Hill 💍 1896/3418	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Hill, Rolleston Street	96/4414	Her father	7 November 1896	Rev. J. K. Cameron
378	7 November 1896	Arthur Krome Elizabeth Maria Rumbin	Arthur Krone Elizabeth Maria Brinton 💍 1896/3445	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	32 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4516		7 November 1896	M. D. Wryall
379	10 November 1896	Henry Seif Elizabeth Mary Dean	Henry Self Elizabeth Mary Dean 💍 1896/173	Widower Spinster	Shipwright	46 40	Wellington Wellington	4 years 5 days	House of Mr. Dean, Ghuznee Street	96/4362		10 November 1896	Rev. W. B. Rose
380	10 November 1896	Timothy Hickey Mary Fitzgerald	Timothy Hickey Mary Fitzgerald 💍 1896/3321	Bachelor Spinster	Gummer	29 29	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Joseph's Church, Frederick Street	96/4349		10 November 1896	Very Rev. J. Berry
381	11 November 1896	Albert Edward Bruns Emily Malcolm Clarke	Albert Edward Brunesse Emily Malcolm Clark 💍 1896/4552 Albert Edward Bayliss Emily Mary Sullivan 💍 1896/677	Bachelor Spinster	Licensed Victualler	34 26	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/4432		11 November 1896	Rev. J. H. Sprott
382	14 November 1896	Andrew Fowler Amelia Jane Short	Andrew Fowler Amelia Jane Stratton Wilson 💍 1896/3487	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4526	William Short, father	20 November 1896	M. D. Wryall
383	16 November 1896	John Benton Lily Marrott		Bachelor Spinster	Telephonist	19 17	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Rev. W. B. Rose	96/4363	Her father	16 November 1896	Rev. W. B. Rose

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).