1865 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840377, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 350

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Oct - Dec

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
995	19 December 1865	Thomas Raine Agnes Holland	Thomas Raines Agnes Bridget Holland 💍 1865/7621	Bachelor Spinster	Soda Water Manufacturer Dressmaker	21 23	Christchurch Do	7 yrs 2 yrs	Roman Catholic Chapel	1201	19 Dec	Rev. Cholalquer
996	19 December 1865	Charles Albert Howen Charlotte L Gwilliam	Charles Albert Gawen Charlotte Gwenlleau Hicks 💍 1865/7304	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Governess	24 24	Christchurch Do	2 yrs 2 yrs	St Lukes Church	1090	Dec 19	Rev. Corfe
997	21 December 1865	George McBean Isabella Douglas	George McBain Isabella Douglas 💍 1865/7552	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman	26 27	Christchurch Do	2 yrs 3 days	Christchurch	1177	Dec 21	Rev C Fraser
998	21 December 1865	John Webb Ablett Mary Ann Chidzey	John Webb Ablett Mary Ann Chidgey 💍 1865/7076	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Servant	21 21	St Albans Do	4 mos 8 mos	Mr Chidgeys House	1012	Dec 21	Rev - Thornton
999	22 December 1865	William Burrows Margaret Knox	William Burrowes Margaret Knox 💍 1865/7702	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	34 25	Do Windmill Rd	2 yrs 2 yrs	St Albans Church	1230	Dec 22	Rev L Moore
1000	22 December 1865	Joel Skipworth Emma Bingham	Joel Skipworth Emma Bingham 💍 1865/7310	Bachelor Spinster	Well borer Servant	30 24	Papanui Do	5 yrs 1 yr	St Lukes Church	1092	Dec 22	Rev - Corfe
1001	23 December 1865	Edward Baddeley Elizabeth Mansell	Edward Badeley Elizabeth Mansell 💍 1865/7669	Bachelor Spinster	Stockman Dressmaker	25 22	Christchurch Do	1 wk 4 mos	Avonside Church	1219	Dec 23	Rev G Bagshaw
1002	26 December 1865	John Winter Sarah Stokes	John Winter Sarah Stokes 💍 1865/7396	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	Christchurch Papanui	4 days 15 yrs	Wesleyan Chapel	1119	Dec 26	Rev J Buller
1003	26 December 1865	James Spriggs Euphemia Lindsay	James Spriggs Euphemia Lindsay 💍 1865/7558	Widower Widow	Farmer Housekeeper	35 30	Christchurch Do	3 days 3 days	Rev C Frasers House	1179	Dec 26	Rev C Fraser

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).