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 745

District of Quarter ending

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
347	20 September 1882	Thomas Rampat Mary Jane Jarman	Thomas Lamport Mary Jane Jarman 💍 1882/3598	Bachelor Spinster	Builder Servant	28 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 8 years	In the Riccarton	82/13618		20 September 1882	Rev. C. Bowen Church of England
348	20 September 1882	George Shaw Arabella King	George Shaw Arabella King 💍 1882/2108	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	32 26	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 4 years	In the House of Mr. King, Hereford Street	82/12744		20 September 1882	Rev. 2. Best Wesleyan
349	20 September 1882	John Thomas Hurrell & Susan		Bachelor Spinster	Mason	26 20	Addington Addington	3 years 2 years	In J. Jolen's Church		no person having authority
350	20 September 1882	James Leash Amy Smith	James Leask Amy Smith 💍 1882/3147 James Barter Mary Smith 💍 1882/36	Bachelor Widow	Engineer	35 24	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 11 years	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser, Greams Street	82/13021		20 September 1882	Rev. C. Fraser Paisleyterian
351	22 September 1882	Patrick Gill Mary Elizabeth Wheatley	Patrick Gill Mary Elizabeth Wheatley 💍 1882/2157	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 year	In R. Michaels, Geraldine Church	82/12243		22 September 1882	Rev. W. Harper Church of England
352	23 September 1882	Herbert William Ipragge & Lucy Eleanor Willis	Herbert William Spragge Lucy Eleanor Willis 💍 1882/2256	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 22	Christchurch Avonside	3 weeks 1 year	In the Avonside Church	82/12248		23 September 1882	Rev. Wa Pascoe Church of England
353	25 September 1882	William Grundy Croll & Accura Maria Taylor	William Grundy Croll Anna Maria Taylor 💍 1882/2107	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the House of Mr. Croll Addington	82/12443		25 September 1882	Rev. 2. Best Wesleyan
354	25 September 1882	James Reading Accura Vena De Rose	James Reading Annie Eliza De Rose 💍 1882/93	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer	35 18	Woolston Sydenham	5 years 1 year	In the Presbyterian Church		Sophia Vale	25 September 1882	Rev. C. Fraser Presteglesian
355	25 September 1882	Button & Thomas Shaw Clara Jane		Bachelor Spinster	Woolclasser	35 25	Bingsland Bingsland	8 years 8 years	In the Avonside Church	82/13052	Mother	25 September 1882	Rev. Wa Pascoe Church of England

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 1899. 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).