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 717

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
220	4 June 1883	Ebenezer Martin Mulligan Lizzie Cowan	Ebenezer Martin Mulligan Lizzie Cowan 💍 1883/1501	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	23 21	Papanui Papanui	6 months 6 months	In the Presbyterian Church	83/1386		4 June 1883	Rev. The Hansword Presbyterian
221	4 June 1883	Isaac Carved North Isabella Lackie	Isaac Awed North Isabella Leckie 💍 1883/1173	Bachelor Widow	Tailor Servant	47 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 2 years	In the House of Mr. Lodge	83/1328		4 June 1883	R. Taylor Rev. T. Buddle Wesleyan
222	5 June 1883	James Reed Haste Mary Jane Richards	James Reid Harte Mary Jane Richards 💍 1883/1223	Bachelor Member	Station Master	29 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 24 years	In St. Lukes, Malvern Church	83/1353		5 June 1883	Rev. R. A. Lugard Church of England
223	5 June 1883	James Hanna Margaret Mitchelle	James Hanna Margaret Mitchell 💍 1883/2180	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	27 23	St. Albans Christchurch	5 years 2 years	In the Presbyterian Church	83/2243		5 June 1883	A. Smiddie Rev. S. Slocombe Presbyterian
224	7 June 1883	Charles Woodham Ellen Northeote	Charles Woodham Ellen Northcote 💍 1883/1161	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	20 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 5 years	In the Church, Avonside	83/1300	Charles Woodham, Father Ellen Northeote, Mother	7 June 1883	Rev. W. F. Knowles Church of England
225	8 June 1883	James Liddington Alice Clark	James Liddington Alice Clark 💍 1883/1488	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 years	In St. Johns Church	83/1314		8 June 1883	Rev. H. R. M. Watson Church of England
226	8 June 1883	Daniel Gow Campbell Bettina Symeons Reynolds	Daniel Gow Campbell Bethiah Symons Reynolds 💍 1883/1193	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanical Engineer	23 19	Sydenham Sydenham	5 years 19 years	In the Registrars Office	83/1299	Symeons Reynolds, mother	8 June 1883	Registrar M. Markerson
227	11 June 1883	James Clothier Jane Milligan	James Clothier Jane Milligan 💍 1883/2121	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper Servant	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 20 years	In the Baptist Chapel	83/2238		11 June 1883	Rev. C. Sallashin Baptist
228	11 June 1883	William Ridsbury Mary Ired	William Rinsbury Mary Jack 💍 1883/1195	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Servant	27 38	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the Registrars Office	83/1307		11 June 1883	Registrar M. Markerson

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).