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 728

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
313	14 August 1883	William John Skelton Jane Hore	William John Skilton Jane Hore 💍 1883/2068	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	25 20	Sydenham Sydenham	6 months 4 years	In the House of Mr. Hore	83/2190	14 August 1883	Rev. J. Wilson
314	14 August 1883	James Anderson Frances Butler	James Anderson Frances Butler 💍 1883/2240	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	28 23	St. Albans Beaconsfield	5 years 8 years	In the House of Mr. Butler	83/2152	14 August 1883	Rev. W. Berkley
315	14 August 1883	John Burnett Julia Barrett	John Burnett Julia Barrett 💍 1883/2069	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 6 years	In the Registrars Office	83/210	14 August 1883	Registrar
316	15 August 1883	John Saunders Alice Elisabeth Winter	John Saunders Alice Elizabeth Winter 💍 1883/2198	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	32 26	Prebbleton Prebbleton	4 years 26 years	In the Church	83/2184	15 August 1883	Rev. C. E. Wright
317	20 August 1883	James Henry Barker Charlotte Schmidt	James Henry Barker Charlotte Schmidt 💍 1883/2195	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 23 years	In St. Matthews Church, Chch	83/2182	20 August 1883	Rev. R. Mortimer
318	20 August 1883	William Mr. Lennon Annie Lennon	William McLennan Annie Lennox 💍 1883/3070 William Preston Annie Jones 💍 1883/108	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	42 22	Halkett Halkett	7 years 20 years	In the House of Mr. Lennon	83/3202	20 August 1883	Rev. H. S. Burnett
319	20 August 1883	Sidney William Alexander Mayne Jane Alice Kelly	Sidney William Alexander Mayne Jane Alice Kelly 💍 1883/2171	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 3 years	In St. Marys Church, Addington	83/2258	20 August 1883	Rev. H. East
320	21 August 1883	Thomas Kelly Ann Cain	Thomas Kelly Ann Cain 💍 1883/2165	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 7 years	In the Seafield Congregational Church	83/2252	21 August 1883	Rev. H. Williams
321	21 August 1883	Henry Corbett Hancock Emma Adams	Henry Corbett Hancock Emma Adams 💍 1883/2161	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler maker Servant	33 33	Sydenham Sydenham	5 years 14 days	In the Baptist Church	83/2240	21 August 1883	Rev. C. Dallaston

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).