Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 463

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1884

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
73	7 March 1884	Henry William Leonard Stevenson Jessie Mary MacDowall	Henry William Leonard Stevenson Jessie Mary McDowall 💍 1884/478	Widower Spinster	Clerk Spinster	29 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 1 year	St. Lukes Church	84/506		7 March 1884	Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England
74	12 March 1884	Philip Bourgeois Caroline Skelton	Philipp Bourgeois Caroline Skelton 💍 1884/3716	Widower Spinster	Cordial maker Servant	51 30	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 4 years	Registrars Office	84/1490		12 March 1884	J. J. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
75	13 March 1884	Henry Strong Work Lavinia Hudson	Strong Work Morrison Lavinia Hudson 💍 1884/2252	Divorced Widow		51 34	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 year	St. Lukes Church	84/1413		13 March 1884	Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England
76	14 March 1884	Robert Edward Back Henry Elizabeth Matilda Upsall	Robert Edward Shewry Elizabeth Matilda Upsall 💍 1884/2374	Bachelor Spinster	Market Gardener Servant	31 19	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years In the House of George Bone 4 years In the Waltham	In the House of George Bone	84/1487	George Bone, having authority to consent	14 March 1884	C. Gallaston, J.P.
77	16 March 1884	Charles Blomefield Back Douglas Katherine Pauline Elton	Charles Blomefield Douglas Katharine Pauline Elton 💍 1884/447	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor Spinster	40 37	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days In the Kendal Town 6 weeks Christchurch	In the Kendal Town	84/1498		16 March 1884	Rev. J. R. Welsh, Church of England
78	17 March 1884	Murdoch McRae Susannah Nelson	Murdo McRae Susanna Nelson 💍 1884/490	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week In St. Pauls 1 week Cashel Street	Church	84/1543		17 March 1884	Rev. J. Plushie, Presbyterian
79	17 March 1884	Henry Hedge Emily Peigh	Henry Hedge Emily Pugh 💍 1884/726	Widower Spinster	Dealer Spinster	35 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years In the House of Arthur Peigh 10 years Sydenham	In the House of Arthur Peigh	84/3800	Arthur Peigh, Father	17 March 1884	Rev. J. R. Peigh, Baptist
80	19 March 1884	John James Cowdery Edith Charlotte Collins	John James Cowdery Edith Charlotte Collins 💍 1884/3718	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman Spinster	29 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years In the Avonside 7 years Christchurch	Church	84/1530		19 March 1884	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England
81	21 March 1884	Niels Michael Larsen Sofie Friederike Hannibal	Niels Michael Larsen Heinke Sofie Friederike Hannibal 💍 1884/440	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	28 32	Paparua Paparua	1 year 1 year	Registrars Office	84/1491		21 March 1884	J. J. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).