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 439

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
264	19 July 1884	Lawrence Charles Brockett Alice Louisia Rowe	Lemuel Charles Brockett Alice Louisa Rowe 💍 1884/1407	Bachelor Spinster	Clerker	22 18	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 18 years	Phillipstown Church	84/1399	Henry Rowe, Father	19 July 1884	Rev J. C. Gilbert, Church of England
265	19 July 1884	William McDonnell Elena Amy Lyford	William McDonnell Eliza Amy Lyford 💍 1884/2887	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 2 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/2628		19 July 1884	Rev L. Geraty, Roman Catholic
266	19 July 1884	August Henry Carter Herman Buggeles Elizabeth Ann Mead		Bachelor Spinster		26 18	Christchurch Passpass	4 days 5 days	Presbyterian Church	84/1236	Robert Mead, Father	19 July 1884	Rev W. Hawwell, Presbyterian
267	19 July 1884	William Stanley Farmer Elizabeth Jane Pester	William Stanley Elizabeth Jane Porter 💍 1884/1712	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 19	Harewood Road Passpass	25 years 6 months	Harewood Road Church	84/1313	Edward Pester, Father	19 July 1884	Rev J. G. S. Hoare, Church of England
268	22 July 1884	Robert Stoves Goodwin Robertina Munro	Robert Stones Goodwin Robertina Munro 💍 1884/1409	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	Baptist Chapel, Oxford	84/2419	Roderick Munro, Father	22 July 1884	Rev C. Dallaston, Baptist
269	25 July 1884	Hayes Thomas Laborer Maria Jamieson	Thomas Hayes Maria Jamieson 💍 1884/2829 James Jamieson Marian Jamieson 💍 1885/608	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	House of Rev W. Denniddie	84/2342		25 July 1884	Rev W. Denniddie, Presbyterian
270	25 July 1884	Edward Slade Celia Rebecca Bullock	Edward Slade Celia Rebecca Bullock 💍 1884/1403	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Dressmaker	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 10 years	Methodist Chapel, Cambridge	84/2414		25 July 1884	Rev J. Ward, Methodist
271	28 July 1884	Thomas Ruison Cunningham Arabella Morall	Thomas Kinmont Cunningham May Annabella Yoxale 💍 1884/2991	Bachelor Spinster	Overseer	25 29	Christchurch Barbados	4 days 4 days	House of Mrs Whitton	84/2799		28 July 1884	Rev J. Henslie, Presbyterian
272	28 July 1884	Thomas Henry Davey Maud Pringee Dobson	Thomas Henry Davey Maude Pringle Dobson 💍 1884/2801	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	27 20	Christchurch Oxford	3 years 10 years	East Oxford Church	84/2314	Dobson, Father	28 July 1884	Rev J. Sheldon, Church of England

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).