Intentions to Marry, 1900 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840418, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 703

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1900 Registrar Arthur Hector Gore

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

20 October 1900

Henry Fosketh
Mary Robinson (Maiden name Ward)

Henry Foskett
Mary Robinson
💍 1900/4685

Widower
Married to Edward James Robinson 13 March 1898 but have not heard from him for 7 years

Labourer

39
33

Napier
Napier

13 years
1 year

In The Office of The Registrar of Marriages, Napier

00/4491

20 October 1900

A. H. Gore, Registrar, Napier

No	77
Date of Notice	20 October 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Fosketh	Mary Robinson (Maiden name Ward)
BDM Match (66%)	Henry Foskett	Mary Robinson
	💍 1900/4685
Condition	Widower	Married to Edward James Robinson 13 March 1898 but have not heard from him for 7 years
Profession	Labourer
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	13 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In The Office of The Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	00/4491
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1900
Officiating Minister	A. H. Gore, Registrar, Napier

20 October 1900

Walter Thomas Rayson
Harris Martha Bicknell

Walter Thomas Rayson
Harriet Martha Bicknell
💍 1900/4595

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

36
29

Puketapu
Puketapu

4 years
7 years

At The Residence of The Brides Mother, Puketapu

00/4511

20 October 1900

Rev. A. P. Clarke

No	78
Date of Notice	20 October 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Rayson	Harris Martha Bicknell
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Thomas Rayson	Harriet Martha Bicknell
	💍 1900/4595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Puketapu	Puketapu
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At The Residence of The Brides Mother, Puketapu
Folio	00/4511
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke

22 October 1900

Arthur George Howe
Lydia Fenton

Arthur George Howe
Lydia Fenton
💍 1900/4578

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer

34
25

Napier
Napier

22 years
6 years

At the Residence of Mr. W. H. Newton, Carlyle St. Napier

00/4507

22 October 1900

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	79
Date of Notice	22 October 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Howe	Lydia Fenton
	💍 1900/4578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Mr. W. H. Newton, Carlyle St. Napier
Folio	00/4507
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

23 October 1900

James Paul Carruth
Maggie Munro

James Paul Carruth
Maggie Munro
💍 1900/4696

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

28
31

Napier
Napier

25 years
6 years

At the Residence of Daniel Carruth, Carlyle St. Napier

00/4502

23 October 1900

Rev. H. N. J. Millers

No	80
Date of Notice	23 October 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Paul Carruth	Maggie Munro
	💍 1900/4696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Daniel Carruth, Carlyle St. Napier
Folio	00/4502
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. J. Millers

23 October 1900

Robert Tier
Ellen Beaney

Robert Tier
Ellen Beaney
💍 1900/4686

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
14

Napier
Napier

28 years
4 years

At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

00/4492

George Beaney, Father of Bride

23 October 1900

A. H. Gore, Registrar, Napier

No	81
Date of Notice	23 October 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Tier	Ellen Beaney
	💍 1900/4686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	14
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	00/4492
Consent	George Beaney, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	23 October 1900
Officiating Minister	A. H. Gore, Registrar, Napier

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 1903. 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).