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 755

District of Christchurch 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
416	22 November 1882	John Vincent Roche Emma Bryant	John Vincent Roche Emma Bryant 💍 1882/2882	Bachelor Widow	Frame Maker Walker	36 37	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 14 years	Registrar's Office	82/3094	22 November 1882	Registrar Marriages
417	22 November 1882	Gains Clarke Helen Gosling	Gains Clarke Helen Gesling 💍 1882/3533	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	[illegible] 11 days	St. John's Church	82/3565	22 November 1882	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
418	22 November 1882	William Bolase Willock Mary Florence Welbourne Willis	William Borlase Willock Mary Florence Welborne Willis 💍 1882/85	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 4 months	St. Luke's Church	82/3064	22 November 1882	Rev. E. A. Lingard
419	24 November 1882	Thomas King Elizabeth Thompson	Thomas King Elizabeth Thompson 💍 1882/2720 Thomas Bax Alice Thompson 💍 1883/386	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 23 years	In the House of Mr. Thompson	82/3042	24 November 1882	Rev. S. Macfarlane
420	27 November 1882	George Samuel Parker Alice Jane Hall	George Samuel Parker Alice Jane Hall 💍 1882/2893	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 24	Sydenham Sydenham	6 months 8 years	In the Registrar's Office	82/3095	27 November 1882	Registrar Marriages
421	29 November 1882	Robert Malcolm Cleevie Marie Campbell	Robert Malcolm Annie Maria Campbell 💍 1882/3132	Bachelor Spinster	Clothier	31 27	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 5 years	In the House of Mr. Ross	82/3080	29 November 1882	Rev. R. Best
422	30 November 1882	George Pedler Alice Sebria Patchett	George Pedlor Alice Sebina Patchett 💍 1882/3133	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Servant	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	In the House of Mr. Patchett	82/3081	30 November 1882	Rev. R. Best
423	02 December 1882	Marshall Ashton Robinson Louisa Harper	Marshall Ashton Robinson Louisa Harper 💍 1882/94	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years	Presbyterian Church	82/3057	02 December 1882	Rev. S. Slocombe
424	02 December 1882	Richard Body Bessie Quick	Richard Body Bessie Quick 💍 1882/2900	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 22	Greenpark Greenpark	6 months	In the Registrar's Office	82/3096	02 December 1882	Registrar Marriages

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).