Intentions to Marry, 1897 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840411, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 013

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar H. S. Legge

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

1 February 1897

Herbert Robert Arthur
Rhoda Mary Ruth Mowbray

Herbert Robert Arthur
Rhoda Mary Ruth Mowbray
💍 1897/3763

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
27

Auckland
Auckland

28 years
5 years

House of Mrs. P. Mowbray, Ponsonby

97/107

1 February 1897

Rev. G. Burgess, Congregational

No	49
Date of Notice	1 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Robert Arthur	Rhoda Mary Ruth Mowbray
	💍 1897/3763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. P. Mowbray, Ponsonby
Folio	97/107
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Burgess, Congregational

1 February 1897

Hugh Garden Seth Smith
Mary Emily Purchas

Hugh Garden Seth Smith
Mary Emily Purchas
💍 1897/4040

Widower
Spinster

Barrister

48
45

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
22 years

St. Sepulchre's Church Auckland

97/68

1 February 1897

The Very Rev. Archdeacon B. T. Dudley, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	1 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Garden Seth Smith	Mary Emily Purchas
	💍 1897/4040
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Barrister
Age	48	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church Auckland
Folio	97/68
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1897
Officiating Minister	The Very Rev. Archdeacon B. T. Dudley, Church of England

2 February 1897

Charles Daniel Grey
Fanny May Edwards

Charles Daniel Grey
Fanny May Edwards
💍 1897/4124

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer

37
21

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
5 years

Church of England, Thames

97/183

2 February 1897

Rev. T. Callaghan, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	2 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Daniel Grey	Fanny May Edwards
	💍 1897/4124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	97/183
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Callaghan, Church of England

2 February 1897

George Walker Smith
Ethel Stevens Smith

George Walker
Ethel Stevens Smith
💍 1897/4074

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

37
18

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
12 years

House of W. H. Herring, Eden Terrace

97/80

George Smith, Father

2 February 1897

Rev. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	52
Date of Notice	2 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Walker Smith	Ethel Stevens Smith
BDM Match (84%)	George Walker	Ethel Stevens Smith
	💍 1897/4074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	37	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of W. H. Herring, Eden Terrace
Folio	97/80
Consent	George Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Aldridge, Church of Christ

2 February 1897

Ernest Vickery
Emma Elizabeth Davies

Ernest Vickery
Emma Elizabeth Davies
💍 1897/3759

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

23
24

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
34 years

Meeting House, Cook Street

97/104

2 February 1897

Mr. T. J. Bull, Church of Christ

No	53
Date of Notice	2 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Vickery	Emma Elizabeth Davies
	💍 1897/3759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Meeting House, Cook Street
Folio	97/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Mr. T. J. Bull, Church of Christ

2 February 1897

Peter Lawson
Mary Pilotage

Peter Lawson
Mary Pilotage
💍 1897/3438

Widower
Widow

Labourer

52
41

Auckland
Auckland

31 years
22 years

House of Rev. R. Scott, West Mount Eden

97/1232

3 February 1897

Rev. R. Scott, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	2 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Lawson	Mary Pilotage
	💍 1897/3438
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	52	41
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. R. Scott, West Mount Eden
Folio	97/1232
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Scott, Presbyterian

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 1908. 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).