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 458

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
100	5 April 1884	John Henry Coates Mary Ann Robbie	John Henry Coates Mary Ann Robbie 💍 1884/2375	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 20 years	House of H. Coates, North Street	84/1455	James Robbie, father	5 April 1884	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
101	7 April 1884	Arthur Henry Isard Alice Elizabeth John Goldsworthy		Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 3 years	House of John Goldsworthy	84/1385		7 April 1884	Rev. J. R. Cairns, Presbyterian
102	7 April 1884	John Briggs Marianne Molloy	John Briggs Marianne Molloy 💍 1884/2856	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	31 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 7 years	St. Michael's Church	84/2611		7 April 1884	Rev. W. H. Buckley, Roman Catholic
103	7 April 1884	William Henry Jones Annie Henderson	William Henry Jones Annie Henderson 💍 1884/2285 William Mann Ann Henderson 💍 1884/2704 Ralph Porter Annie Henderson 💍 1884/3812 William Rennie Annie Porteous Henderson 💍 1885/1006	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	House of William Jones	84/1388		7 April 1884	Rev. R. M. McGregor, Presbyterian
104	8 April 1884	William Field Louisa Emily Rayner	William Field Louisa Emily Rayner 💍 1884/2250	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Luke's Church	84/1411		8 April 1884	Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England
105	8 April 1884	William James Guttridge Elizabeth Thornton	William James Guttridge Elizabeth Thornton 💍 1884/2367	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Manager Barmaid	27 18	Christchurch Philipstown	2 years 2 years	Philipstown Church	84/1487	Thornton, father	8 April 1884	Rev. H. J. C. Gilbert, Church of England
106	8 April 1884	Arthur Lusty Elizabeth Alice Harvey	Arthur Lusty Elizabeth Alice Harvey 💍 1884/2302	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 1 year	Methodist Chapel, Addington	84/1452		8 April 1884	Rev. R. Taylor, Methodist
107	8 April 1884	Alfred Beardsley Martha Jane Crocker	Alfred Beardsley Martha Jane Gooden 💍 1884/2371	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Teacher	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 4 years	Baptist Church	84/1484		8 April 1884	Rev. C. Dallaston, Baptist
108	8 April 1884	Walter John Trehern Elizabeth Ann Crocker	Walter John Trehern Elizabeth Ann Crocker 💍 1884/2286	Bachelor Widow	Mariner Servant	32 38	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 14 days	House of Rev. R. Best	84/1404		8 April 1884	Rev. R. Best, Wesleyan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).