Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 696

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar J. S. Markerson

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

17 January 1883

James Jamieson
Maria Sherwood

James Jamieson
Maria Sherwood
💍 1883/2200

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

32
17

Yaldhurst
Yaldhurst

10 years
13 years

In the House of Rev. C. Fraser

83/2186

John Sherwood, Father

16 January 1883

Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	17 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jamieson	Maria Sherwood
	💍 1883/2200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	32	17
Dwelling Place	Yaldhurst	Yaldhurst
Length of Residence	10 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. C. Fraser
Folio	83/2186
Consent	John Sherwood, Father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, Presbyterian

18 January 1883

Robert Barter
Julia Scott

Robert Barter
Julia Scott
💍 1883/691

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Servant

21
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
4 years

In the Registrars Office

83/446

16 January 1883

Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Markerson

No	18
Date of Notice	18 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Barter	Julia Scott
	💍 1883/691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Servant
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	83/446
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Markerson

19 January 1883

Edward Lewis Farr
Alice Burt

Edward Lewis Farr
Alice Burt
💍 1883/474

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Servant

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 days

In the Congregational Church

83/506

16 January 1883

Rev. H. Williams, Congregational

No	19
Date of Notice	19 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Lewis Farr	Alice Burt
	💍 1883/474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 days
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church
Folio	83/506
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Congregational

20 January 1883

Henry Wansey
Evelyn Mary Aldridge

Henry Wansey
Evelyn Mary Aldridge
💍 1883/466

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
2 years

In the Coronide

See next entry

16 January 1883

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	20 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wansey	Evelyn Mary Aldridge
	💍 1883/466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Coronide
Folio	See next entry
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

21 January 1883

Henry Wansey
Evelyn Mary Aldridge

Henry Wansey
Evelyn Mary Aldridge
💍 1883/466

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
2 years

In R. Lukes Church

83/576

17 January 1883

Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	21 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wansey	Evelyn Mary Aldridge
	💍 1883/466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In R. Lukes Church
Folio	83/576
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England

22 January 1883

Thomas Claridge
Mary Ann Tucker

Thomas Claridge
Mary Ann Tucker
💍 1883/692

Widower
Widow

Farmer

36
34

Papanni
Papanni

2 years
3 months

In the Registrars Office

83/444

17 January 1883

Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Markerson

No	22
Date of Notice	22 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Claridge	Mary Ann Tucker
	💍 1883/692
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Papanni	Papanni
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	83/444
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Markerson

23 January 1883

Donald Mc.Leod
Mary Houston

Donald McLeod
Maud Mary Bishop
💍 1883/3434

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

40
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
3 months

In the House of J. J. McAtam

83/499

17 January 1883

Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	23 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Mc.Leod	Mary Houston
BDM Match (65%)	Donald McLeod	Maud Mary Bishop
	💍 1883/3434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the House of J. J. McAtam
Folio	83/499
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian

24 January 1883

George Bugg
Elizabeth Webb

George Brigg
Mary Elizabeth Webb
💍 1883/928

Bachelor
Spinster

Tanner
Servant

29
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years
6 years

In the Wesleyan Church

83/498

18 January 1883

Rev. J. Rishworth, Wesleyan

No	24
Date of Notice	24 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bugg	Elizabeth Webb
BDM Match (79%)	George Brigg	Mary Elizabeth Webb
	💍 1883/928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tanner	Servant
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church
Folio	83/498
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rishworth, Wesleyan

25 January 1883

John George Kelly
Helen Beattie

John George Kelly
Helen Beattie
💍 1883/695

Bachelor
Spinster

Vocalist
Vocalist

30
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
5 days

In the Registrars Office

83/450

Person having authority

2 February 1883

Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Markerson

No	25
Date of Notice	25 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Kelly	Helen Beattie
	💍 1883/695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vocalist	Vocalist
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	83/450
Consent	Person having authority
Date of Certificate	2 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, J. S. Markerson

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 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).