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 734

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1883 Registrar M 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

349

10 September 1883

Edwin Cramp
Ruth Ceslie

Edwin Cramp
Ruth Aslin
💍 1883/2192

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

27
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year Linwood
3 months in the House of Mr. Austin

In the House of Mr. Austin

83/2179

Mr. Austin

10 September 1883

Rev. R. Best

No	349
Date of Notice	10 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Cramp	Ruth Ceslie
BDM Match (86%)	Edwin Cramp	Ruth Aslin
	💍 1883/2192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year Linwood	3 months in the House of Mr. Austin
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Austin
Folio	83/2179
Consent	Mr. Austin
Date of Certificate	10 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Best

350

10 September 1883

John Robert
Nicolle Mary Joy Pepper

John Robert Nicolle
Mary Joy Pepper
💍 1883/2197

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

21
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years in the Wesleyan Chapel
9 years East Belt

Wesleyan Chapel

83/2166

Mother

10 September 1883

Rev. W. Tansley

No	350
Date of Notice	10 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert	Nicolle Mary Joy Pepper
BDM Match (62%)	John Robert Nicolle	Mary Joy Pepper
	💍 1883/2197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years in the Wesleyan Chapel	9 years East Belt
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel
Folio	83/2166
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	10 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tansley

351

11 September 1883

Lewis Hudson
Sarah Poulling Sanders

Lewis Hudson
Sarah Coulling Sanders
💍 1883/2184

Bachelor
Spinster

Wesleyan Minister

27
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 days in the House Woodend of Rev. W. Morley
1 week St. Albans

In the House Woodend of Rev. W. Morley

83/2147

11 September 1883

Rev. J. Buller

No	351
Date of Notice	11 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Hudson	Sarah Poulling Sanders
BDM Match (98%)	Lewis Hudson	Sarah Coulling Sanders
	💍 1883/2184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wesleyan Minister
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 days in the House Woodend of Rev. W. Morley	1 week St. Albans
Marriage Place	In the House Woodend of Rev. W. Morley
Folio	83/2147
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Buller

352

12 September 1883

George William
Clark Caroline Amelia Winny

George William Clark
Caroline Amelia Winny
💍 1883/2112

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days in St. Michael's Church
26 years Christchurch

St. Michael's Church

83/2229

12 September 1883

Rev. W. Harper

No	352
Date of Notice	12 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William	Clark Caroline Amelia Winny
BDM Match (74%)	George William Clark	Caroline Amelia Winny
	💍 1883/2112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days in St. Michael's Church	26 years Christchurch
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	83/2229
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Harper

353

12 September 1883

Thomas Dewar
Boag Helen Raglesome

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
21

Fendal Town
Christchurch

24 years in the House of Mr. Raglesome
20 years Spreydon

In the House of Mr. Raglesome

83/2171

Mr. Raglesome

12 September 1883

Rev. T. R. Cassels

No	353
Date of Notice	12 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Dewar	Boag Helen Raglesome
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Fendal Town	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years in the House of Mr. Raglesome	20 years Spreydon
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Raglesome
Folio	83/2171
Consent	Mr. Raglesome
Date of Certificate	12 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Cassels

354

13 September 1883

Henry Andrews
Amelia Wilkins

Henry Andrews
Amelia Wilkins
💍 1883/2979

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

32
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years in St. Saviours Church
8 years Sydenham

St. Saviours Church

83/1344

Wilkins

13 September 1883

Rev. H. S. Cocks

No	354
Date of Notice	13 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Andrews	Amelia Wilkins
	💍 1883/2979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years in St. Saviours Church	8 years Sydenham
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church
Folio	83/1344
Consent	Wilkins
Date of Certificate	13 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Cocks

355

13 September 1883

Thomas Pender
Margaret Brown

Thomas Moonan
Barbara Brown
💍 1884/3773

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

30
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years in the Roman Catholic Church
3 years Christchurch

Roman Catholic Church

83/1359

13 September 1883

Rev. J. McGenity

No	355
Date of Notice	13 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Pender	Margaret Brown
BDM Match (63%)	Thomas Moonan	Barbara Brown
	💍 1884/3773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years in the Roman Catholic Church	3 years Christchurch
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	83/1359
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McGenity

356

15 September 1883

Gelbert Hamilton
McHaffie Edith Laurence

Bachelor
Spinster

22
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days in the Registry Office Timaru
4 years Christchurch

Registry Office Timaru

83/2214

Laurence

15 September 1883

Registrar Marriages Markerson

No	356
Date of Notice	15 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gelbert Hamilton	McHaffie Edith Laurence
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days in the Registry Office Timaru	4 years Christchurch
Marriage Place	Registry Office Timaru
Folio	83/2214
Consent	Laurence
Date of Certificate	15 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Registrar Marriages Markerson

357

15 September 1883

John Gileatt
Martha Brown

Tom Gillatt
Martha Brown
💍 1883/2965

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

24
19

Springston
Springston

4 years in the Wesleyan Chapel
5 years Springston

Wesleyan Chapel

83/3068

Brown

15 September 1883

Rev. H. Cannell

No	357
Date of Notice	15 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gileatt	Martha Brown
BDM Match (83%)	Tom Gillatt	Martha Brown
	💍 1883/2965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Springston	Springston
Length of Residence	4 years in the Wesleyan Chapel	5 years Springston
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel
Folio	83/3068
Consent	Brown
Date of Certificate	15 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Cannell

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).