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 724

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1883 Registrar M Walkerson

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
277	11 July 1883	William Radcliff Christina Wardlaw Pitcaithly	William Radcliffe Christina Wardlaw Pitcaithley 💍 1883/2113	Widower Spinster	Painter Painter	32 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the Temperance Hotel	83/1220		11 July 1883	Rev J. Slocombe, Presbyterian
278	16 July 1883	John Edmonds Harriet Greenfield	John Rus Edmonds Harriet Greenfield 💍 1883/2205	Bachelor Spinster	Bachelor Machinist	21 22	Sydenham Christchurch	3 years 3 months	In the House of Mrs. John Allen, Barbadoes Street	83/2168		16 July 1883	Rev T. K. Cairns, Presbyterian
279	17 July 1883	Frank Elliott Louise Dora Rasmussen	Frank Elliott Louise Dora Rasmussen 💍 1883/3577	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	83/2202		17 July 1883	Registrar Marriages, M Walkerson
280	17 July 1883	William Montague Wathen Hester		Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 12 years	In St Michaels Church	83/1229		17 July 1883	Rev W. Harper, Church of England
281	19 July 1883	Robert Moorhead Jane Causee	Robert Moorhead Jane Camae 💍 1883/3578	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	33 29	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 3 months	In the Southbridge Registrars Office	83/2203		19 July 1883	Registrar Marriages, M Walkerson
282	19 July 1883	William Wilkins Matilda Lemmon	William Wilkins Matilda Lunnon 💍 1883/3581	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	22 20	Sydenham Sydenham	8 years 7 years	In the Registrars Office	83/2204	Thomas Lemmon, Father	19 July 1883	Registrar Marriages, M Walkerson
283	20 July 1883	George Thomas Booth Margaret Jane Hall	George Thomas Booth Margaret Jane Hall 💍 1883/2185	Bachelor Operative	Implement Manufacturer	24 22	Christchurch Road Sydenham	17 years 7 years	In the Wesleyan Church, Colombo Road	83/2248		20 July 1883	Rev J. Crewe, Wesleyan
284	20 July 1883	James Russell Wotherspoon Annie North		Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	23 22	Christchurch Springfield Rd	3 years 2 years	In the House of Mr. W. Callender	83/2244		20 July 1883	Rev W. Dinwiddie, Presbyterian
285	20 July 1883	George Cameron Mary Lilly	George Cameron Mary Lilly 💍 1883/3579	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Servant	50 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 14 years	In the Registrars Office	83/2204	John Lilly, Father	20 July 1883	Registrar Marriages, M Walkerson

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).