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 740

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
388	12 October 1883	John Rudd Martha Shaw Thompson	John Rudd Parker Martha Shaw Thompson 💍 1883/3057	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Servant	27 23	Sydenham Sydenham	2 years 3 months	In the Presbyterian Church	83/3190		12 October 1883	Rev J. R. Cairns
389	15 October 1883	John Northcote Mary Green Williams	John Northcott Mary Ann Williams 💍 1883/3137 John Henry Henley Mary Ann Williams 💍 1884/200	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	23 22	Sydenham Sydenham	5 years 5 years	In the Wesleyan Church	83/3166		15 October 1883	Rev J. Crump
390	15 October 1883	James Henry Jessop Alice Emily Andrews	James Henry Jessop Alice Emily Andrews 💍 1883/316	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 month	In the Ashburton Registrars Office	83/3044	Andrews, Father	15 October 1883	M Markerson
391	16 October 1883	Magnus Peter Hansen Catrine Cecilia Jensen	Mogens Peter Hansen Catrine Cecilija Jensen 💍 1883/2971	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 29	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	83/3043		16 October 1883	Registrar of Marriages
392	16 October 1883	William Frederick Conway Selina Childs	William Frederick Conway Selina Childs 💍 1883/3068	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 10 years	In St Johns, Cust Church	83/3200		16 October 1883	Rev H. E. M. Watson, Church of England
393	16 October 1883	Thomas Conway Bessie Childs	Thomas Conway Bessie Childs 💍 1883/3067	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 10 years	In St Johns, Cust Church	83/3199		16 October 1883	Rev H. E. M. Watson, Church of England
394	16 October 1883	Theodore Percy Arundell Marion Griffith	Theodore Percy Arnold Marion Griffith 💍 1883/327	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	28 35	Heathcote Hokitika	8 months 1 year	In the Registrars Office	83/3075		16 October 1883	Registrar of Marriages
395	18 October 1883	Thomas Wagstaff Beatrice Mary Lax	Thomas Wagstaff Beatrice Mary Lax 💍 1883/3112	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the House of Mr Smallwood	83/3116		18 October 1883	Rev R. Taylor, Methodist
396	18 October 1883	Thomas Carlton Emily Dorce	Thomas Carleton Emily Doell 💍 1883/3202	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	23 19	Riccarton Riccarton	12 years 10 years	In the Church	83/3630	Dorce, Mother	18 October 1883	Rev R. Bowen, Church of England

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).