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 457

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
109	9 April 1884	Alfred Marshall Jane Davis	Alfred Marshall Clara Jane Davis 💍 1884/1016	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant Dressmaker	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 3 years	Opawa Church	84/1504		9 April 1884	Rev. G. Cholmondeley, Church of England
110	9 April 1884	Arthur Edward Louisa Ware	Arthur Edward Sefton Susan Louisa Ware 💍 1884/2251	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Lukes Church	84/1417		9 April 1884	Rev. F. A. Lingard, Church of England
111	9 April 1884	William Simpson Elizabeth Getting	William Simpson Mary Elizabeth Gething 💍 1884/2645	Bachelor Spinster	Turner Servant	24 18	Christchurch Woolston	4 years 18 years	St. Johns Church	84/1881	Having Consent	9 April 1884	Rev. C. J. Merton, Church of England
112	9 April 1884	James Hunter Jane Gee	James Hunter Margaret Ellen Russell 💍 1884/3375	Bachelor Spinster	Turner	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 20 years	St. Johns Church	84/2382	Gee father	9 April 1884	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England
113	10 April 1884	Alfred Walter Annie Cameron	Alfred Walter Weston Maxwell Annie Cameron 💍 1884/1028	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller Servant	34 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 4 months	St. Andrews Manse	84/1494		10 April 1884	Rev. W. Decumiddie, Presbyterian
114	10 April 1884	Charles John Helen Gerrard	Charles John Cox Eliza Helen Gerrard 💍 1884/2359	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 2 years	Congregational Church	84/1443		10 April 1884	Rev. J. Hoatson, Congregational
115	10 April 1884	John Knowles Maria Horrell	John Knowles Annie Maria Horrell 💍 1884/3725	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 3 years	St. Michaels Church	84/1460		10 April 1884	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
116	12 April 1884	William Thomas Martha Sheway	William Thomas Elizabeth Vogan 💍 1884/2844	Bachelor Spinster		17 21	Hadfield Christchurch	17 years 1 year	In the Registrar's Office	84/1422	Mother Sheway	12 April 1884	J. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
117	12 April 1884	Hugh Hewett Annie Webb	Hugh Hewitt Minnie Webb 💍 1884/1400	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Mrs. Bent Taylor	84/2411	Webb Mother	12 April 1884	Rev. J. Ward, Primitive Methodist

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).