Intentions to Marry, 1880

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840392, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 652

District of Christchurch Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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

3 March 1880

John Campbell
Susan Williamson

John Campbell
Susan Wilkinson
💍 1880/958

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

23
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 days
1 year

In the House, House of Rev. C. Fraser - Bishop

80/396

Mrs Bush having authority

3 March 1880

Rev. C. Fraser

No	81
Date of Notice	3 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell	Susan Williamson
BDM Match (91%)	John Campbell	Susan Wilkinson
	💍 1880/958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 days	1 year
Marriage Place	In the House, House of Rev. C. Fraser - Bishop
Folio	80/396
Consent	Mrs Bush having authority
Date of Certificate	3 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

4 March 1880

Joseph Gibson
Mary Susanna Pollinger

Joseph Gibson
Mary Susannah Pollinger
💍 1880/921

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 months
3 days

In the Wesleyan Church

80/411

4 March 1880

Rev. C. Reid

No	82
Date of Notice	4 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Gibson	Mary Susanna Pollinger
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Gibson	Mary Susannah Pollinger
	💍 1880/921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church
Folio	80/411
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Reid

4 March 1880

William Allen
Marion Bishop

William Allen Porter
Marion Bishop
💍 1880/911

Bachelor
Spinster

Masterer
Dressmaker

22
21

Christchurch
Sydenham

1 year
18 months

In St. Michaels Church

80/425

4 March 1880

Rev. E. G. Penny

No	83
Date of Notice	4 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allen	Marion Bishop
BDM Match (83%)	William Allen Porter	Marion Bishop
	💍 1880/911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Masterer	Dressmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 year	18 months
Marriage Place	In St. Michaels Church
Folio	80/425
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Penny

4 March 1880

Alfred Cook
Ann Harriett Stanlick

Alfred Cork
Mary Ann Stanlick
💍 1880/962

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

23
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
7 years

In the House of Rev. C. Fraser

80/407

4 March 1880

Rev. C. Fraser

No	84
Date of Notice	4 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Cook	Ann Harriett Stanlick
BDM Match (72%)	Alfred Cork	Mary Ann Stanlick
	💍 1880/962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser
Folio	80/407
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

4 March 1880

William Bruill
Mary Ann Merriman

William Berrill
Mary Ann Merriman
💍 1880/961

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Machinist

35
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
10 years

In the House of Rev. C. Fraser

80/399

4 March 1880

Rev. C. Fraser

No	85
Date of Notice	4 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bruill	Mary Ann Merriman
BDM Match (93%)	William Berrill	Mary Ann Merriman
	💍 1880/961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Machinist
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser
Folio	80/399
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

4 March 1880

George Tinney
Adeline Rose Oliver

George Tuiney
Adeline Rose Oliver
💍 1880/912

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
22

Christchurch
Knights Yard Christchurch

6 months
6 years

In St. Michaels Church

80/426

4 March 1880

Rev. E. G. Penny

No	86
Date of Notice	4 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Tinney	Adeline Rose Oliver
BDM Match (92%)	George Tuiney	Adeline Rose Oliver
	💍 1880/912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Knights Yard Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	6 years
Marriage Place	In St. Michaels Church
Folio	80/426
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Penny

5 March 1880

James Rutherford
Elizabeth Irrow

James Rutherford
Elizabeth McJorrow
💍 1880/1013

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Servant

28
20

Christchurch
Knights Yard

5 months
8 days

In the house of Mrs Irrow Salisbury Street

80/392

John Irrow, Father

5 March 1880

Rev. J. Bates

No	87
Date of Notice	5 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rutherford	Elizabeth Irrow
BDM Match (89%)	James Rutherford	Elizabeth McJorrow
	💍 1880/1013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Servant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Knights Yard
Length of Residence	5 months	8 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Irrow Salisbury Street
Folio	80/392
Consent	John Irrow, Father
Date of Certificate	5 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bates

5 March 1880

Charles Philip
Catherine Radcliffe

Charles Philip Philips
Christina Catherine Radcliffe
💍 1880/925

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

35
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 days
3 years

In the house of Mrs Radcliffe

80/415

Philips Christina Radeliffe, Mother

5 March 1880

Rev. J. Elmslie

No	88
Date of Notice	5 March 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Philip	Catherine Radcliffe
BDM Match (65%)	Charles Philip Philips	Christina Catherine Radcliffe
	💍 1880/925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Radcliffe
Folio	80/415
Consent	Philips Christina Radeliffe, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 March 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie

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).