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 707

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1883

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
130	7 April 1883	James William Coombes Caroline Martin	James William Coombes Caroline Martin 💍 1883/1165	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 4 years	In the House of Mr. Etherington, Harewood Road	83/1321		7 April 1883	Rev W. Mosley, Wesleyan
131	9 April 1883	Patrick Dempsey Mary Rourke	Patrick Dempsey Mary Rourke 💍 1883/3245	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	28 27	St. Albans St. Albans	7 years 7 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/1344		9 April 1883	Rev L. Guisty, Roman Catholic
132	10 April 1883	William Henry Foden Elizabeth Ann Jones	William Henry Foden Elizabeth Amelia Jones 💍 1883/1509	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	26 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 17 years	In the Church of St. John	83/1341		10 April 1883	Rev Reuben Watson, Church of England
133	10 April 1883	Stanley Miller Julia Cloudesley	Stanley Miller Julia Cloudesley 💍 1883/1148	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the Registrars Office	83/1278	William Cloudesley, Father	10 April 1883	Registrar Malkerson
134	12 April 1883	John Addeson Clarke Alice Ellen Hatchard	John Addison Clarke Alice Ellen Hatchard 💍 1883/1177	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Saleswoman	40 years 27 years	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 7 years	In St. Michaels Church	83/1332		12 April 1883	Rev W. Harper, Church of England
135	12 April 1883	Joseph Hart Jane Gilbert	Joseph Hart Jane Gilbert 💍 1883/1149	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	29 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In the Registrars Office	83/1279		12 April 1883	Registrar Malkerson
136	12 April 1883	Henry Slater Sybie Richards	Henry Slater Richards Sybil Richards 💍 1883/1143	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 23	Christchurch Hororata	25 years 13 years	In St. Johns Church, Hororata	83/1274		12 April 1883	Rev H. Collins, Church of England
137	13 April 1883	John Thomas Meek Jane Crook	John Thomas Meek Jane Crook 💍 1883/1172	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 33	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 1 month	In the house of Mr. Meek, Peterborough Street	83/1310		13 April 1883	Rev L. Guisley, Wesleyan
138	14 April 1883	Benjamin Stocks Ellen Lock	Benjamin Stocks Ellen Lock 💍 1883/1166	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Housekeeper	31 26	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 6 years	In the Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	83/1322		14 April 1883	Rev Z. Best, Wesleyan

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).