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 722

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1883 Registrar M. Markerson

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
259	2 July 1883	William McKay Catherine Robinson	William McKay Catherine Robinson 💍 1883/2116 William Dass Jane Robinson 💍 1883/1146	Widower Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	44 33	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 3 years	In the House Akaroa	83/2233	2 July 1883	Revd J. Menslie
260	2 July 1883	William Henry Warren Ellen Batley	William Henry Warren Ellen Batley 💍 1883/2079	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 10 years	In the Registrars Office	83/2194	2 July 1883	Registrar of Marriages J. Markerson
261	2 July 1883	Richard Purchase Harriett Kemp	Richard Purchase Harriett Kemp 💍 1883/2078	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper Machinist	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	In the Registrars Office	83/2195	2 July 1883	J. Markerson
262	2 July 1883	William Budd Hannah Mills	William Budd Hannah Mills 💍 1883/2210	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	38 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 7 years	In the Winchester Opawa	83/2143	2 July 1883	Revd J. Cholmondeley
263	2 July 1883	Frank William Banks Thomas Huana		Bachelor Spinster	Printer	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 1 year	In St. Michaels Church	83/2221	2 July 1883	Revd W. Harper
264	3 July 1883	William John Brooks Annie James	William John Woods Annie James 💍 1883/3593	Widower Widow	Labourer Housekeeper	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	10 months 2 years	In the Registrars Office	83/2196	3 July 1883	Registrar of Marriages J. Markerson
265	3 July 1883	Ephraim Evans Anne Trippit	Ephnaim Evans Ann Trippet 💍 1883/2190	Widower Widow	Carpenter Housekeeper	52 36	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 7 years	In the House of Revd E. Best	83/2174	3 July 1883	Revd E. Best
266	5 July 1883	George William Sharp Marianne Gimblett	George William Sharp Marianne Gimblett 💍 1883/2164	Bachelor Spinster	Congregational Minister	30 31	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 week	In the House of Revd H. Williams	83/2257	5 July 1883	Revd H. Williams
267	6 July 1883	John Wilson Sophie Gray	John Wilson Sophie Gray 💍 1883/2685 John Wilson Sophie Gray 💍 1883/3576	Widower Spinster	Gentleman	53 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	83/2199	6 July 1883	Registrar of Marriages M. 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 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).