Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 736

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1881

No	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
307	7 October 1881	Walter Edward Wade Emily Butcher	Walter Edwin Wade Emily Butcher 💍 1881/2756	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	18 19	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 19 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	81/2852	Joseph Wade, father, Samuel Butcher, father	7 October 1881	Rev C. Fraser
308	7 October 1881	Arthur William Sutcliffe Jane Hobbs	Arthur William Sutcliffe Jane Hobbs 💍 1881/3071	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Servant	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the Church of St. John	81/3242		7 October 1881	Rev H. C. M. Watson
309	8 October 1881	William Fox Jane Laurence	William Fox Mary J Lawrence 💍 1881/2758	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Barmaid	20 18	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 7 years	In the House of Mr Laurence	81/2854	Catherine Martin, mother	8 October 1881	Rev C. Fraser
310	8 October 1881	Thomas Barnes Lena Loughman	Thomas Barnes Eliza Loughnan 💍 1881/3263	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	37 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	81/3202		8 October 1881	Rev L. Ginaty
311	12 October 1881	Robert Clutton Fanny Drew	Robert Anthony Stemmer Fanny Drew 💍 1881/2830	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	25 28	Riccarton Riccarton	4 years 2 years	In St. Peters Church	81/2831		12 October 1881	Rev C. Bowen
312	13 October 1881	William Blackmore Elizabeth Nicoll	William Blackmore Baker Elizabeth Monk 💍 1881/2815 William Burlace Pote Elizabeth Toy 💍 1881/398 William McKoy Elizabeth Terrill 💍 1881/268 William Lockwood Elizabeth Cairns 💍 1881/560 William Bycroft Elizabeth Johns 💍 1881/2446 William Close Elizabeth Harrison 💍 1881/8 William Edward Taylor Elizabeth Hall 💍 1881/2519 William Farmer Elizabeth Jane Relf 💍 1881/933 William Watson Elizabeth Manson 💍 1882/648 William Kane Elizabeth Walsh 💍 1881/174	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	36 22	Christchurch Kaiapoi	3 days 10 years	In St. Lukes, Hornata, Church	81/2814		13 October 1881	Rev J. W. A. Jurgard
313	13 October 1881	Frederick Boot Rebecca Gooden	Frederick Boot Ann Rebecca Gooden 💍 1881/2759	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 2 years	In the House of Mr F. Boot	81/2825		13 October 1881	Rev H. Williams
314	15 October 1881	Patrick Leahy Fanny Gray	Patrick Leahy Fanny Grey 💍 1881/3265	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 22 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	81/3204		15 October 1881	Rev L. Ginaty

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

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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).