Intentions to Marry, 1899 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840415, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington (now located in the National Library reading room), September 5 2025

1899 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 277

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar Robert Raye

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
1	6 January 1899	Herbert Ford Agnes Dron	Herbert Ford Agnes Dron 💍 1899/613	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	32 23	Waimea West Waimea West	32 years 23 years	The residence of William Dron, Waimea West	99/646		6 January 1899	W. F. Baker, Church of England Minister
2	26 January 1899	William Charles Britton Mary Ann Shirtliff	William Charles Britton Mary Annie Shirtcliff 💍 1899/750	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	25 22	Nadi awa Street Nadi awa Street	3 days 6 months	Chapel of the Evangelist, Bishopdale, Nelson	99/644		26 January 1899	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
3	31 January 1899	James Blincoe Annie Maxwell Bashford	James Blincoe Annie Maxwell Bashford 💍 1899/749	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic Servant	27 24	Brook Street Brook Street	3 years 24 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	99/642		31 January 1899	H. Calders, Registrar
4	20 February 1899	James Francis Childs Effie Ruth Maud Perrin	James Francis Childs Effie Ruth Maud Perrin 💍 1899/751	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	30 20	Masonic Hotel, Trafalgar Street, Nelson Kawai Street	3 days 7 years	Chapel of the Evangelist, Bishopdale, Nelson	99/645	Emily Maud Perrin, mother	20 February 1899	W. F. Baker, Church of England Minister
5	22 February 1899	George Edward Webbey Martha Emily Prussing	George Edward Webby Martha Emily Pressing 💍 1899/745	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Domestic Duties	30 25	Richmond Richmond	4 years 14 days	Holy Trinity Church, Richmond	99/639		22 February 1899	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
6	6 March 1899	John Louis Ching Alice Louisa Hammond	John Louis Ching Alice Louisa Hammond 💍 1899/5442	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	21 21	Stoke Richmond	21 years 21 years	The residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Ching, Stoke	99/643		6 March 1899	Geo. T. Marshall, Wesleyan Minister
7	13 March 1899	Walter Solly Emma Fanny Harvey	Walter Solly Emma Fanny Harvey 💍 1899/744	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller Domestic Duties	25 17	Tipahi Street, Nelson Tipahi Street, Nelson	1 week 1 week	Residence of Mr. Joseph Baker, Tipahi Street, Nelson	99/638	Frederick John Harvey, father	13 March 1899	E. C. Isaac, Congregational Independent Minister
8	24 March 1899	Walter Scott Snodgrass Eliza Selina Sar Rins	Walter Scott Snodgrass Eliza Gertrude Larkins 💍 1899/747	Bachelor Spinster	Shop Assistant Domestic Duties	31 24	Selwyn Place, Nelson Bridge Street	4 years 24 years	St. John's Wesleyan Church, Hardy Street, Nelson	99/640		24 March 1899	S. T. Prior, Wesleyan Church Minister
9	25 March 1899	Harry Machin Josephine Hannah Armstrong	Harry Machin Josephine Hannah Armstrong 💍 1899/2092	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Domestic Duties	30 32	Hardy Street, Nelson Arthur Street, Nelson	10 months 32 years	St. Mary's Church, Manuka Street, Nelson	99/2024		25 March 1899	W. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
10	28 March 1899	Frederick William Fairey Maud Marion Eugenie Cooper	Frederick William Fairey Maud Marion Eugenie Cooper 💍 1899/2095	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	28 27	Bridge Street, Nelson Trafalgar Square, Nelson	28 years 27 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	99/2027		28 March 1899	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
11	29 March 1899	John William Blincoe Ann Jane Close	John William Blincoe Ann Jane Close 💍 1899/2094	Bachelor Spinster	Rope-maker Domestic Servant	29 23	Maitai Valley, Nelson Wakapuaka	1 year 23 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	99/2026		29 March 1899	F. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
12	30 March 1899	George Horton Branford Jane Amelia Toll	George Hinton Branford Jane Amelia Toll 💍 1899/748	Bachelor Spinster	Drayman Domestic Duties	24 24	Bronte Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	24 years 5 years	The residence of Mrs. Maria Toll, Hardy Street, Nelson	99/641		30 March 1899	S. T. Prior, Wesleyan Minister

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 1899. 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).