Intentions to Marry, 1897 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840412, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

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

Page 757

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
414	16 October 1897	John McKellar Mary Josephine Reston	John McKellar Mary Josephine Newton 💍 1897/2843	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 8 months	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/4223	J. E. Reston, Father	16 October 1897	Registrar, J. W. Parkeron
415	18 October 1897	Arthur Herley Wood Amy Isabel Ross	Derisley Wood Amy Isabel Ross 💍 1897/2855	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	30 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 23 months	St. Luke Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch	97/4262		18 October 1897	Rev. Archd. Lingard, Church of England
416	19 October 1897	Frederick William Penlington Hannah Ann Hardie	Frederick William Penlington Hannah Ann Hardie 💍 1897/3301	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 20 years	St. John Church, Latimer Square, Christchurch	97/4864		18 October 1897	Rev. W. Finday, Wesleyan
417	19 October 1897	Alfred Edwin Hubbard Annie Rosa Needham	Alfred Edwin Husband Minnie Rosa Needham 💍 1897/2859	Bachelor Spinster	Tram Conductor	22 21	Christchurch Sydenham	22 years 6 years	House of Mrs. Brittenton, Shakespeare Road, Sydenham	97/4266		19 October 1897	Rev. H. J. Purchase, Church of England
418	19 October 1897	William Manning Ann Horner	William Manning Ann Horner 💍 1897/209	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Christchurch Papanui	4 days 1 month	St. Paul's Church, Papanui	97/4309		19 October 1897	Rev. H. J. Purchase, Church of England
419	19 October 1897	Sidney Williams Sarah Jane Ash	Sidney Williamson Sarah Jane Ash 💍 1897/3158	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	26 23	Christchurch Addington	23 years 23 years	St. Mary's Church, Addington	97/4631		19 October 1897	Rev. W. S. Bean, Church of England
420	21 October 1897	Henry Mangels Margaret McCall	Henry Mangels Margaret McColl 💍 1897/3335	Bachelor Spinster	Creamery Manager	30 28	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 28 years	St. Paul's Church, Cashel Street, Christchurch	97/4901		21 October 1897	Rev. J. Elmshie, Presbyterian
421	22 October 1897	George Rives Beaudry Willaphy Georgina Brooks	George Rivis Willoughby Beauchamp Georgina Brooks 💍 1897/2844	Widower Spinster	Hotelkeeper	39 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 24 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/4224		22 October 1897	Registrar, J. W. Parkeron

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).