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 449

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
181	24 May 1884	Dan Hannigan Ann Cullinan	Dan Flannigan Anne Cullinan 💍 1884/2864	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 2 months	Roman Catholic Church	84/1618		24 May 1884	Rev. L. McGuaty
182	27 May 1884	Robert Lambert Sarah Rowe	Robert Loggie Ross Sarah Rowe 💍 1884/3209	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	House of Harry Falconer	84/1393		27 May 1884	Rev. J. Elmslie
183	27 May 1884	John Rederby Mary Cahill	John Rickerley Mary Cahill 💍 1884/2319	Bachelor Spinster	Coachdriver Housekeeper	25 18	Halswell Halswell	1 year 9 months	Registrar's Office	84/1446	Hoperson [illegible] in June	27 May 1884	Registrar of Marriages
184	27 May 1884	Henry Rowe Margaret Horne	Henry Gore Margaret Glover 💍 1884/1342 Henry Payne Margaret Horne Steven 💍 1884/1415 Henry Paget Margaret Toppin 💍 1884/1064 Henry Dangen Margaret Usher 💍 1884/1881	Widower Spinster	Plumber Dressmaker	33 22	Linwood Linwood	10 years 5 years	House of Mr. Steven	84/2405		27 May 1884	Rev. E. Best
185	27 May 1884	Francis Harvey Mary Warwick	Francis Harvey Mary Warwick 💍 1884/2296	Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker Weaveress	23 29	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 3 months	Registrar's Office	84/1438		27 May 1884	Registrar of Marriages
186	27 May 1884	Charles Haughey Elizabeth Deem	Charles Haughey Elizabeth Dunn 💍 1884/2277	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer Machinist	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 8 years	House of Peter Deem, Percy Street	84/1394		27 May 1884	Rev. J. Elmslie
187	28 May 1884	John Courtney Louisa Howard	John Courtney Felton Emily Louisa Howard 💍 1884/728	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet maker Servant	22 24	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 3 weeks	Baptist Chapel	84/3802		28 May 1884	Rev. J. B. Gilmore
188	28 May 1884	Julius Humphry Julia Morrissy		Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Laborer	26 27	Halswell Christchurch	4 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/1619		28 May 1884	Rev. L. McGuaty
189	28 May 1884	Malcolm Grieve Annie Smith	Malcolm Grieve Annie Smith 💍 1884/2316 Francis Elliot McChesney Annie Smith 💍 1884/3016	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 1 year	Registrar's Office	84/1443		28 May 1884	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).