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 Jul - Sep

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

July 11

Thomas Hawkins
Catherine Hawker

Thomas Plumridge
Eliza Catherine Hawker
💍 1867/7855

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Milline

21
19

Addington
Christchurch

12 years
2 years

In the Church

1195

Catherine Hawker, mother

July 11 1867

The Very Rev. the Dean

No	1436
Date of Notice	July 11
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hawkins	Catherine Hawker
BDM Match (61%)	Thomas Plumridge	Eliza Catherine Hawker
	💍 1867/7855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Milline
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Addington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	1195
Consent	Catherine Hawker, mother
Date of Certificate	July 11 1867
Officiating Minister	The Very Rev. the Dean

1437

July 11

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

1078

July 11 1867

Rev. C. Frazer

No	1437
Date of Notice	July 11
	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
Folio	1078
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 11 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Frazer

1438

July 13

Frederick Allan
Eliza Gilbert

Frederick Allen
Eliza Gilbert
💍 1867/7519

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

24
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 Days
Do

In the House

1079

July 13 1867

Rev. C. Frazer

No	1438
Date of Notice	July 13
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Allan	Eliza Gilbert
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Allen	Eliza Gilbert
	💍 1867/7519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 Days	Do
Marriage Place	In the House
Folio	1079
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 13 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Frazer

1439

July 16

James Pague
Anne Burdett

James Payne
Ann Burdett
💍 1867/7930

Widower
Widow

Shoemaker

50
50

Papanui
Papanui

3 years
3 years

In the Church

1220

July 16 1867

Rev. L. Moore

No	1439
Date of Notice	July 16
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pague	Anne Burdett
BDM Match (87%)	James Payne	Ann Burdett
	💍 1867/7930
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	50	50
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	1220
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 16 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Moore

1440

July 16

George Lill
Elizabeth Mushead

George Lill
Elizabeth Muirhead
💍 1867/7894

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

28
24

Templeton
Do

2 years
4 years

In the Church

1208

July 16 1867

Rev. R. Fendall

No	1440
Date of Notice	July 16
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lill	Elizabeth Mushead
BDM Match (94%)	George Lill	Elizabeth Muirhead
	💍 1867/7894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Templeton	Do
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	1208
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 16 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fendall

1441

July 17

George Briens
Harriet Busby

George Brien
Harriett Busby
💍 1867/8041

Widower
Spinster

Servant

32
23

Christchurch
Do

5 Days
4 mth

In the House

1259

July 17 1867

Rev. C. Frazer

No	1441
Date of Notice	July 17
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Briens	Harriet Busby
BDM Match (93%)	George Brien	Harriett Busby
	💍 1867/8041
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession		Servant
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	5 Days	4 mth
Marriage Place	In the House
Folio	1259
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 17 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Frazer

1442

July 17

David Grant
Margaret Webster

David Grant
Margaret Webster
💍 1867/7648

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

30
29

Christchurch
Do

4 years
6 years

In the House of Mrs Webster Montreal Street

1123

July 17 1867

Rev. C. Frazer

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

1443

July 19

Godfrey Fruch
Josephina 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

1080

John Dodd, Stepfather Christchurch

July 19 1867

Rev. C. Frazer

No	1443
Date of Notice	July 19
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Godfrey Fruch	Josephina Richards
BDM Match (78%)	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	1080
Consent	John Dodd, Stepfather Christchurch
Date of Certificate	July 19 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Frazer

1444

July 22

Henry James Angers
Mary Ellen Bailiff

Henry James Ainger
Fanny Ellen Bailiff
💍 1867/7933

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
29

Christchurch
Do

3 years
3 years

In the Church

1221

August 12 1867

Rev. L. Moore

No	1444
Date of Notice	July 22
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Angers	Mary Ellen Bailiff
BDM Match (87%)	Henry James Ainger	Fanny Ellen Bailiff
	💍 1867/7933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	1221
Consent
Date of Certificate	August 12 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).

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).