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 420

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
418	9 December 1884	Henry Edward Whitfield Sarah Jane Patton	Henry Edward Whitfield Sarah Jane Patton 💍 1884/3494	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	30 24	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 6 years	Merivale Church	84/3354		9 December 1884	Rev. T. Flavell
419	27 December 1884	Horace Belmer Evelyn Anderson	Horace Belmer Evelyn Anderson 💍 1884/3396	Bachelor Spinster	Collector	23 16	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 8 years	St. Michael's Church	84/3324	Person having consent	27 December 1884	Rev. W. Harper
420	11 December 1884	Herbert James Cummington Willett Baines	Herbert James Cunnington Eveline Willett Baines 💍 1884/3478	Bachelor Widow	Mechanical Engineer	33 35	Christchurch Amberley	9 years 8 weeks	Leithfield Church	84/3304		11 December 1884	Rev. H. Collins
421	12 December 1884	George Woods Lydia Maria Jackson	George Woods Lydia Maria Jackson 💍 1884/3416	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Dressmaker	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 8 years	St. Mary's Church	84/3320	James Jackson, father	12 December 1884	Rev. H. East
422	12 December 1884	William Alfred Memmery Elizabeth Chapman	William Alfred Mummery Elizabeth Chapman 💍 1884/3585	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 5 years	St. Saviour's Church, Addington	84/3572		12 December 1884	Rev. H. B. Cocks
423	13 December 1884	William Frederick Allen Lucretia Anne Thompson	William Frederic Allen Lucretia Ann Thompson 💍 1884/1557	Bachelor Spinster	Stock Dealer	43 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 days	Registrar's Office, Sydenham	84/3341	James Matthew Thompson, father	13 December 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Verrall
424	13 December 1884	Charles Edwin Jones Elizabeth Pentecost	Charles Edwin Jones Elizabeth Pentecost 💍 1884/1558	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger Servant	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 11 years	Registrar's Office	84/3342	Frances Smart, mother	13 December 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Verrall
425	13 December 1884	Percy Corpland Emma Alice Atkinson	Percy Coupland Emma Alice Atkinson 💍 1884/663	Bachelor Spinster	Porter	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 12 years	House of Rev. J. Elmslie, Lichfield Street	84/3436	Thomas Atkinson, father	13 December 1884	Rev. J. Elmslie, 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 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).