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 302

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
64	24 February 1897	Francis Weston Emily Jane Philpott	Francis Weston Emily Jane Philpott 💍 1897/4440	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	21 28	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 28 years	House of Mrs. J. Philpott, Crescent Rd, St. Albans	97/766		24 February 1897	Rev. J. A. Lusford, Wesleyan
65	24 February 1897	Frederick Charles Begwood Annie Williamson	Frederick Charles Bigwood Annie Williamson 💍 1897/4417	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Milliner	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 19 years	St. Michael's Church	97/709	Mary Williamson, Mother	24 February 1897	Rev. W. Averill, Church of England
66	24 February 1897	John Alfred Bennett Bridget Beatrice Burns	John Alfred Bennett Bridget Beatrice Burns 💍 1897/3908	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Grader Domestic	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street	97/791		24 February 1897	Rev. Father Cumming, Roman Catholic
67	26 February 1897	Gilbert Walter Coventry Elizabeth Ann Storey	Gilbert Walter Coventry Elizabeth Ann Skoey 💍 1897/3944	Widower Widow	Retired Officer in Army	59 43	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 10 years	House of Rev. R. Erwin, Riccarton	97/713		26 February 1897	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
68	26 February 1897	William Edward Legge Edith Augusta Webb	William Edward Legge Edith Agusta Webb 💍 1897/3972	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 15 years	House of W. J. Webb, York Street, Opawa	97/740		26 February 1897	Rev. J. Orchard, Wesleyan
69	27 February 1897	Henry Should Mary Ann Gregory	Henry Mould Mary Ann Gregory 💍 1897/4432	Widower Widow	Fruiterer	64 54	Christchurch Christchurch	36 years 15 years	Holy Trinity, Avonside	97/781		27 February 1897	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
70	27 February 1897	James Francis Biddles Elizabeth Hobbs	James Fraser Elizabeth Hobbs 💍 1897/3945	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Tailoress	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 26 years	House of Thos. Hobbs, Selwyn Street, Christchurch	97/714		27 February 1897	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
71	27 February 1897	Andrew James Butler Isabella Franks	Andrew James McEntee Isabella Franks 💍 1897/4338	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 17	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office	97/695	Francis William Franks, Father	27 February 1897	Registrar, J. W. Pakenham

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).