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 450

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
172	19 May 1884	Walter Shallcrass Rosa Baker		Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 23 years	St. John's Church	84/1285		19 May 1884	Rev. H. E. Wilson, Church of England
173	19 May 1884	Alfred Downing Mary Jane Johnson	Alfred Downing Mary Jane Johnson 💍 1884/2366 George Ross Mary Jane Johnson 💍 1884/641	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 18	Sydenham Addington	5 years 15 years	St. Mary's Church	84/1480	Jane Johnson, Mother	19 May 1884	Rev. H. East, Church of England
174	19 May 1884	Frederick Page Annie Buzzall	Frederick Page Annie Buzza 💍 1884/588	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	33 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 4 months	Registrar's Office	84/1434		19 May 1884	J. M. Ollivier, Registrar of Marriages
175	20 May 1884	John Edward Ford Bridget McMeanam	John Edward Ford Bridget McManns 💍 1884/2862	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	29 23	At Sea Christchurch	- 6 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/2617		20 May 1884	Rev. J. Ginaty, Roman Catholic
176	20 May 1884	Swens Malcolm Emma Coulter	Swene Malcolm Edward Ashley Emma Coulter 💍 1884/2283	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Machinist	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 6 years	St. Saviour's Church	84/1407		20 May 1884	Rev. H. Cocks, Church of England
177	21 May 1884	Alfred Jacob Le Gassick Emma McCormick	Alfred Jacob Le Gassick Emma McCormick 💍 1884/2275	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	22 18	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 10 years	St. Paul's Church	84/1392	James McCormick, Father	21 May 1884	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian
178	21 May 1884	William Stockbridge Lucy Deborah Blakeman	William Stockbridge Lucy Deborah Blackman Gupwell 💍 1884/2309	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	39 20	Prebbleton Prebbleton	12 years 6 years	House of Isaac Blakeman, Spreydon	84/1458	Isaac Blakeman, Father	21 May 1884	Rev. R. J. Porter, Presbyterian
179	22 May 1884	Thomas Smart Margaretta Thorn	Thomas Smart Margaretta Thomas 💍 1884/2231	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Servant	34 27	Sydenham Road, Sydenham	4 years 5 years	Methodist Chapel, Colombo Road	84/1407		22 May 1884	Rev. C. Worboys, Methodist
180	23 May 1884	Robert Thomson Jane McMillan	Robert Thomson Jane McMillan 💍 1884/2293 Alex Bain Jane McMillan 💍 1884/3461	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 21	Christchurch Sydenham	3 days 5 years	The Presbyterian Church	84/1388		23 May 1884	Rev. T. R. Cairns, 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).