Intentions to Marry, 1867

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840379, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 442

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1867

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

1436

11 July 1867

Thomas Plumridge
Eliza Catherine Hawker

Thomas Plumridge
Eliza Catherine Hawker
💍 1867/7855

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Milliner

21
19

Addington
Ferry Road

1 1/2 years
2 years

In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch

67/1195

Catherine Hawker, mother

11 July 1867

The Very Rev. the Dean

No	1436
Date of Notice	11 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Plumridge	Eliza Catherine Hawker
	💍 1867/7855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Milliner
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Addington	Ferry Road
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of St Michael, Christchurch
Folio	67/1195
Consent	Catherine Hawker, mother
Date of Certificate	11 July 1867
Officiating Minister	The Very Rev. the Dean

1437

11 July 1867

William McKenzie
Mercy Bardsley

William McKenzie
Mercy Bardsley
💍 1867/7516

Widower
Spinster

Tailor
Servant

35
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

18 mths
3 years

In the House of Mrs Birmingshaw, Tuam Street

67/1078

11 July 1867

Rev. C. Fraser

No	1437
Date of Notice	11 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKenzie	Mercy Bardsley
	💍 1867/7516
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Servant
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	18 mths	3 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mrs Birmingshaw, Tuam Street
Folio	67/1078
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1438

13 July 1867

Frederick Allen
Eliza Gilbert

Frederick Allen
Eliza Gilbert
💍 1867/7519

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

27
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 Days
3 Days

In the House of the Rev C Fraser

67/1079

13 July 1867

Rev. C. Fraser

No	1438
Date of Notice	13 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Allen	Eliza Gilbert
	💍 1867/7519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	In the House of the Rev C Fraser
Folio	67/1079
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1439

16 July 1867

James Payne
Anne Burdett

James Payne
Ann Burdett
💍 1867/7930

Widower
Widow

Shoemaker

50
50

Papanui
Papanui

5 years
3 years

In the Papanui Church

67/1220

1 August 1867

Rev. L. Moore

No	1439
Date of Notice	16 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Payne	Anne Burdett
BDM Match (96%)	James Payne	Ann Burdett
	💍 1867/7930
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	50	50
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Papanui Church
Folio	67/1220
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Moore

1440

16 July 1867

George Lill
Elizabeth Muirhead

George Lill
Elizabeth Muirhead
💍 1867/7894

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

28
24

Templeton
Templeton

2 years
4 years

In the Church Templeton

67/1208

16 July 1867

Rev. R. Jackson

No	1440
Date of Notice	16 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lill	Elizabeth Muirhead
	💍 1867/7894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Templeton
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Church Templeton
Folio	67/1208
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Jackson

1441

17 July 1867

George Brien
Harriet Busby

George Brien
Harriett Busby
💍 1867/8041

Widower
Spinster

Storeman
Servant

32
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 Days
4 mths

In the House of Rev C Fraser

67/1257

17 July 1867

Rev. C. Fraser

No	1441
Date of Notice	17 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brien	Harriet Busby
BDM Match (96%)	George Brien	Harriett Busby
	💍 1867/8041
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Servant
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 Days	4 mths
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev C Fraser
Folio	67/1257
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1442

17 July 1867

David Grant
Margaret Webster

David Grant
Margaret Webster
💍 1867/7648

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

30
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
6 years

In the House of Mrs Webster Montreal Street N.

67/1123

17 July 1867

Rev. G Grant

No	1442
Date of Notice	17 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Grant	Margaret Webster
	💍 1867/7648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mrs Webster Montreal Street N.
Folio	67/1123
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. G Grant

1443

19 July 1867

Godfrey Finch
Truphina Richards

Godfrey Finch
Tryphena Richards
💍 1867/7522

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockdriver

26
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
1 month

In the House of the Rev. C Fraser

67/1080

John Dodd, Stepfather Christchurch

19 July 1867

Rev. C. Fraser

No	1443
Date of Notice	19 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Godfrey Finch	Truphina Richards
BDM Match (94%)	Godfrey Finch	Tryphena Richards
	💍 1867/7522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockdriver
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	In the House of the Rev. C Fraser
Folio	67/1080
Consent	John Dodd, Stepfather Christchurch
Date of Certificate	19 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1444

22 July 1867

Henry James Ainger
Mary Ellen Bailiff

Henry James Ainger
Fanny Ellen Bailiff
💍 1867/7933

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
3 days

In the Church Papanui

67/1221

12 August 1867

Rev. L. Moore

No	1444
Date of Notice	22 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Ainger	Mary Ellen Bailiff
BDM Match (92%)	Henry James Ainger	Fanny Ellen Bailiff
	💍 1867/7933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Church Papanui
Folio	67/1221
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Moore

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).