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 792

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1897

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
242	27 May 1897	Frederick Thomas Parnell Bessie O'Brien	Frederick Thomas Pannell Bessie O'Brien 💍 1897/1220	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 1 month	Holy Trinity Church	97/2085		27 May 1897	Rev. Wm. Pascoe, Church of England
243	27 May 1897	James Duncan Lawrence Minnie Marion Gribblett	James Duncan Lawrence Minnie Marion Gimblett 💍 1897/1229	Bachelor Widow	Chemist	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	30 years 5 years	St. Mary's Church	97/2023		27 May 1897	Rev. H. A. Watson, Church of England
244	29 May 1897	William Kair Johnston Mary Bowden	William Kane Johnston Mary Bowden 💍 1897/1138	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 26 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/1976		29 May 1897	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Vause
245	31 May 1897	Hugh Northcote Baker Mary Frances Thorpe	Hugh Northcote Mary Frances Thorpe 💍 1897/1136	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk in Holy Orders	28 32	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	St. Matthew's Church	97/1997		31 May 1897	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
246	31 May 1897	Alfred Reginald Cockle Helena Jane Seckill	Alfred Reginald Cockle Helena Jane Seahill 💍 1897/1195	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 5 years	St. Mary's Church, Manchester St.	97/2057	Kate Seckill, Mother of bride	31 May 1897	Rev. D. Malone, Roman Catholic
247	1 June 1897	Robert William Stephenson Annie Agnes Sutton	Robert William Stephenson Fanny Agnes Lutton 💍 1897/1197	Widower Spinster	Bricklayer	49 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 weeks	St. John's Church, Sydenham	97/2059		1 June 1897	Rev. E. C. Cocks, Church of England
248	1 June 1897	Richard William Olise Jane Carthew	Richard William Oliver Jane Carthew 💍 1897/1139	Widower Spinster	Builder	49 43	Christchurch S. Ship Jonic	23 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/1999		1 June 1897	J. W. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
249	2 June 1897	Albert Charles Bainton Mary Harriet Horne	Albert Charles Rainton Mary Harriet Horne 💍 1897/1184	Bachelor Spinster	Well Sinker	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 3 months	Home of Jas. Horne, Barbadoes St.	97/2045	Jas. Horne, Father of bride	2 June 1897	Rev. W. G. Parsons, Wesleyan

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).