Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 702

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar J.J. Mackerson

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

21 January 1882

Patrick Dunphy
Fillia

Patrick Dunphy
Lilly Delia Wattie
💍 1882/724

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

22
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

In the Roman Catholic Church

82/557

James Wattie, Father

20 January 1882

Rev. L. Ginaty

No	21
Date of Notice	21 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Dunphy	Fillia
BDM Match (64%)	Patrick Dunphy	Lilly Delia Wattie
	💍 1882/724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	82/557
Consent	James Wattie, Father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Ginaty

22 January 1882

Henry Newton
Emily

Henry Newton
Emily Ann Carlysle
💍 1882/641

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
20

Phillipstown
Sydenham

2 years
2 years

In the House of Rev. I. Rishworth

82/545

20 January 1882

Rev. I. Rishworth

No	22
Date of Notice	22 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Newton	Emily
BDM Match (64%)	Henry Newton	Emily Ann Carlysle
	💍 1882/641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Phillipstown	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. I. Rishworth
Folio	82/545
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Rishworth

23 January 1882

John Harris
Mary Clun Wilue

John Harris
Mary Ann Milne
💍 1882/635

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

33
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
15 years

In the House of Mr. Harris

82/539

21 January 1882

Rev. T. Flavell

No	23
Date of Notice	23 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harris	Mary Clun Wilue
BDM Match (83%)	John Harris	Mary Ann Milne
	💍 1882/635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Harris
Folio	82/539
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Flavell

24 January 1882

William Bitfort
Fanny Leuney

William Ditfort
Fanny Lenney
💍 1882/709

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

24
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 years
18 months

In St. Saviours, Sydenham

82/566

James Leuney, Father

23 January 1882

Rev. H.S. Cocks

No	24
Date of Notice	24 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bitfort	Fanny Leuney
BDM Match (93%)	William Ditfort	Fanny Lenney
	💍 1882/709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In St. Saviours, Sydenham
Folio	82/566
Consent	James Leuney, Father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.S. Cocks

25 January 1882

James McDonald
Mary

James McDonald
Mary Ann Wheeler
💍 1882/710

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent

29
22

Sydenham
Christchurch

1 year
20 years

In St. Saviours Church

82/567

25 January 1882

Rev. H.S. Cocks

No	25
Date of Notice	25 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McDonald	Mary
BDM Match (63%)	James McDonald	Mary Ann Wheeler
	💍 1882/710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	In St. Saviours Church
Folio	82/567
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.S. Cocks

26 January 1882

Samuel Brookling
Annie

Samuel Brooking
Annie Eliza Goodwin
💍 1882/656

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman

24
22

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 years
20 years

In St. Marys, Addington

82/536

Samuel Goodwin, Father

26 January 1882

Rev. H. East

No	26
Date of Notice	26 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Brookling	Annie
BDM Match (60%)	Samuel Brooking	Annie Eliza Goodwin
	💍 1882/656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St. Marys, Addington
Folio	82/536
Consent	Samuel Goodwin, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. East

27 January 1882

Henry Rodda
Lydia Farland

Henry Rodda
Lydia Farland
💍 1882/706

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker
Dressmaker

27
22

Sydenham
Sydenham

2 years
3 years

In the House of Mr. H Rodda Waltham

82/563

27 January 1882

Rev. I.S. Smalley

No	27
Date of Notice	27 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Rodda	Lydia Farland
	💍 1882/706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker	Dressmaker
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. H Rodda Waltham
Folio	82/563
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I.S. Smalley

28 January 1882

Christopher Bassett
Lydia Farlane

Bachelor
Spinster

Guard
Dressmaker

23
22

Christchurch
Sydenham

1 year
3 years

In the Registrars Office

82/572

28 January 1882

J.J. Mackerson

No	28
Date of Notice	28 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Bassett	Lydia Farlane
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Guard	Dressmaker
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	82/572
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1882
Officiating Minister	J.J. Mackerson

28 January 1882

Edward Christopher Bassett
Martha Judge

Edward Christopher Bassett
Martha Judge
💍 1882/607

Bachelor
Spinster

Guard

23
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
21 years

In the Registrars Office Christchurch

82/512

28 January 1882

Registrar Marriages Paul Reason

No	28
Date of Notice	28 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Christopher Bassett	Martha Judge
	💍 1882/607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Guard
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office Christchurch
Folio	82/512
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Registrar Marriages Paul Reason

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).