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 480

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar J. W. Smith

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
10	26 January 1883	Charles Diaper Mary Kerby	Charles Diaper Mary Rirley 💍 1883/592	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	33 23	Woodville Napier	6 years 1 1/4 year	Roman Catholic Church	83/319		26 January 1883	Rev I Ahern, Roman Catholic
11	30 January 1883	John Sommerville Christina Jane Howell	John Somerville Christina Jane Howell 💍 1883/3502	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	28 21	Puketapu Puketapu	5 years 10 years	House of Isaac Howell	83/339		30 January 1883	Rev E. H. Grainger, English Church
12	30 January 1883	Philip La Massurier Elizabeth Ann Rowe	Philip Le Masurier Elizabeth Ann Rowe 💍 1883/3501	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	32 20	Napier Napier	7 days 14 days	House of E. Rowe	83/332	Ezekiel E. Rowe, father	30 January 1883	Rev E. O. Perry, Primitive Methodist
13	1 February 1883	Edmund Dutton Marion Ritchie	Edmund Sutton Marion Ritchie 💍 1883/423	Widower Spinster	Merchant	40 30	Napier Napier	20 years 8 years	House of Mrs Ritchie Cooke	83/342		1 February 1883	Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian
14	3 February 1883	Arthur William Chhom Christina Macdonald	Arthur William Coham Christina Macdonald 💍 1883/418	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	30 28	Napier Napier	5 months 4 days	Havelock Church	83/324		3 February 1883	Rev M Nicholl, Presbyterian
15	3 February 1883	William Robelliard Clara Georgina Bradford	William Robilliard Clara Georgina Bradford 💍 1883/437	Bachelor Spinster	Rate & Marines	24 24	Port Ahuriri Napier	3 years 4 years	House of Mrs Martin	83/333		3 February 1883	Rev E. O. Perry, Primitive Methodist
16	12 February 1883	William Henry Scully Harriett Fisk	William Henry Schultz Harriett Fisk 💍 1883/432	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	47 39	Napier Napier	20 years 9 years	St Johns Church	83/350		12 February 1883	Rev de Berdt Hovell, English Church
17	12 February 1883	Edward Lockyer Imphan Mary Ann Berry	Edward Lockyer Ingpen Mary Ann Berry 💍 1883/424	Widower Spinster	Clerk	47 21	Napier Napier	7 years 21 years	House of Mr Berry	83/343		12 February 1883	Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian
18	12 February 1883	George Plank Frances Marshall	George Plaisk Frances Marshall 💍 1883/426	Bachelor Widow	Foreman	24 22	Napier Napier	7 years 2 years	Residence of Rev D Sidey	83/345		12 February 1883	Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian

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).