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 665

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1880 Registrar J W Parkerson

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

180

10 May 1880

William Langley Pope
Annie Isabella Burdon

William Langley Pope
Annie Isabella Burdon
💍 1880/1435

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

29
30

Sydenham
Sydenham

9 months
9 months

In the House of Mr. Heath, Sydenham

80/1090

10 May 1880

Rev. J. S. Smalley, Wesleyan

No	180
Date of Notice	10 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Langley Pope	Annie Isabella Burdon
	💍 1880/1435
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Heath, Sydenham
Folio	80/1090
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Smalley, Wesleyan

181

11 May 1880

Frederick George Templerton
Mercy Webb

Frederick George Temperton
Mercy Webb
💍 1880/1423

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

21
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
19 years

St. Lukes Church Christchurch

80/1102

John William Webb, Father

11 May 1880

Rev. E. A. Lingard, Church of England

No	181
Date of Notice	11 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Templerton	Mercy Webb
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick George Temperton	Mercy Webb
	💍 1880/1423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church Christchurch
Folio	80/1102
Consent	John William Webb, Father
Date of Certificate	11 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Lingard, Church of England

182

12 May 1880

Thomas Bailey
Mary Anne Aston

Thomas Bailey
Mary Ann Astor
💍 1880/1448

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
7 years

In the Avonside Church

80/1079

George Aston, Father

12 May 1880

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	182
Date of Notice	12 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bailey	Mary Anne Aston
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Bailey	Mary Ann Astor
	💍 1880/1448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Avonside Church
Folio	80/1079
Consent	George Aston, Father
Date of Certificate	12 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

183

12 May 1880

Thomas Stapleton
Christina Aitken

Tom Stapleton
Christina Aitken
💍 1880/1449

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Servant

28
17

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
18 months

In the Avonside Church

80/1080

Isabella Aitken, Mother

12 May 1880

Rev. W. A. Pascoe Church of England

No	183
Date of Notice	12 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stapleton	Christina Aitken
BDM Match (91%)	Tom Stapleton	Christina Aitken
	💍 1880/1449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Servant
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the Avonside Church
Folio	80/1080
Consent	Isabella Aitken, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe Church of England

184

13 May 1880

Thomas Goodger
Margant Sly

Thomas Goodgen
Margaret Sly
💍 1880/1607

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman

28
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
1 week

St. Michaels Church Christchurch

80/1194

13 May 1880

Rev. E. G. Penny Church of England

No	184
Date of Notice	13 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Goodger	Margant Sly
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Goodgen	Margaret Sly
	💍 1880/1607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church Christchurch
Folio	80/1194
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Penny Church of England

185

13 May 1880

Richard Trist Searell
Mary Ellis

Richard Frist Searell
Mary Ellis
💍 1880/1438

Bachelor
Spinster

Professor of Music

28
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
5 years

In the Wesleyan Church, Durham Street

80/1093

William Ellis, Father

13 May 1880

Rev. A. Reid, Wesleyan

No	185
Date of Notice	13 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Trist Searell	Mary Ellis
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Frist Searell	Mary Ellis
	💍 1880/1438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Professor of Music
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church, Durham Street
Folio	80/1093
Consent	William Ellis, Father
Date of Certificate	13 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reid, Wesleyan

186

13 May 1880

Henry Davy
Florence Walford

Henry Davy
Florence Walford
💍 1880/1628

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

29
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
3 years

In the house of Rev. C Fraser, Tuam Street

80/1141

13 May 1880

Rev. C Fraser, Presbyterian

No	186
Date of Notice	13 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Davy	Florence Walford
	💍 1880/1628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. C Fraser, Tuam Street
Folio	80/1141
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. C Fraser, Presbyterian

187

14 May 1880

James Donaldson Hutton
Catherine Burk

James Donaldson Hutton
Catherine Burk
💍 1880/1854

Widower
Spinster

Servant

50
43

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

In the Registrars Office Christchurch

80/1121

14 May 1880

Registrar Marriages J W Parkerson

No	187
Date of Notice	14 May 1880
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Donaldson Hutton	Catherine Burk
	💍 1880/1854
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession		Servant
Age	50	43
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	80/1121
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1880
Officiating Minister	Registrar Marriages J W Parkerson

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).