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 923

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar Archibald Reid Wre

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

15 February 1883

Charles McGrath
Elizabeth Graham McArthur

Charles McGrath
Elizabeth Graham McArthur
💍 1883/2434

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
19 years

In All Saints Church

83/2456

15 February 1883

Rev. A. R. Fitchett, Church of England Minister

No	60
Date of Notice	15 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McGrath	Elizabeth Graham McArthur
	💍 1883/2434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church
Folio	83/2456
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Fitchett, Church of England Minister

15 February 1883

James McKechnie
Margaret Mulholland

James McKechnie
Margaret Mulholland
💍 1883/2435

Widower
Spinster

Railway Station Master

30 years
23 years

Caversham
Dunedin

5 months
3 years

In All Saints Church

83/2457

15 February 1883

Rev. A. R. Fitchett, Church of England Minister

No	61
Date of Notice	15 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKechnie	Margaret Mulholland
	💍 1883/2435
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station Master
Age	30 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 months	3 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church
Folio	83/2457
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Fitchett, Church of England Minister

16 February 1883

James Marshall Garze
Marian Thompson

James Marshall Gaze
Marian Thompson
💍 1883/615

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

37 years
39 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages

83/1621

16 February 1883

A. R. Wre, Registrar of Marriages

No	62
Date of Notice	16 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Marshall Garze	Marian Thompson
BDM Match (98%)	James Marshall Gaze	Marian Thompson
	💍 1883/615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	37 years	39 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	83/1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1883
Officiating Minister	A. R. Wre, Registrar of Marriages

17 February 1883

Charles Henry Bayley
Mary Chambers

Charles Henry Bayley
Mary Chambers
💍 1883/951

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

16 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
9 years

In St. Paul's Church

83/647

Lucy Bayley, mother of minor; William Nathanael Chambers, father of minor

17 February 1883

Rev. E. G. Edwards, Church of England Minister

No	63
Date of Notice	17 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Bayley	Mary Chambers
	💍 1883/951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	16 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Church
Folio	83/647
Consent	Lucy Bayley, mother of minor; William Nathanael Chambers, father of minor
Date of Certificate	17 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Edwards, Church of England Minister

17 February 1883

Kenneth Stuart Begg
Emily Leland Howorth

Kenneth Stuart Begg
Emily Cleland Howorth
💍 1883/959

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

21 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 days
15 years

In the house of George Howorth, London Street

83/657

George Howorth, father of minor

17 February 1883

Rev. C. E. Ward, Methodist Minister

No	64
Date of Notice	17 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Stuart Begg	Emily Leland Howorth
BDM Match (95%)	Kenneth Stuart Begg	Emily Cleland Howorth
	💍 1883/959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	21 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 days	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of George Howorth, London Street
Folio	83/657
Consent	George Howorth, father of minor
Date of Certificate	17 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward, Methodist Minister

17 February 1883

Alexander Davidson
Elizabeth Isabella Sproule

Alexander Davidson
Elizabeth Isabella Sproule
💍 1883/581

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housemaid

23 years
21 years

Caversham
Caversham

3 days
8 days

In the house of Rev. Joseph Berry, Castle Street

83/664

17 February 1883

Rev. J. Berry, Wesleyan Minister

No	65
Date of Notice	17 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Davidson	Elizabeth Isabella Sproule
	💍 1883/581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housemaid
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. Joseph Berry, Castle Street
Folio	83/664
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Berry, Wesleyan Minister

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).