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 466

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
46	9 February 1884	Samuel Solomon Baker Selina Theresa Hayward	Samuel Solomon Pollock Selina Myra Theresa Hayward 💍 1884/455	Bachelor Spinster	Innkeeper Barmaid	36 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	84/482		9 February 1884	Registrar of Marriages J. M. Mackerron
47	9 February 1884	Richard Roberts Annie Bamford	Richard Roberts Annie Bamford 💍 1884/486	Bachelor Servant	Grocer	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 6 months	In the House of Richard Roberts	84/539		9 February 1884	Rev R. Erwin Presbyterian
48	11 February 1884	Thomas McCeneury Sarah Jackson	Thomas McAneney Sarah Jackson 💍 1884/457	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Milliner	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 10 years	In the Registrars Office	84/484		11 February 1884	Registrar of Marriages J. M. Mackerron
49	12 February 1884	Edward Alfred Johnson Margaret Sackett Drake	Edward Alfred Drake Margaret Sackatt 💍 1884/1883	Bachelor Divorced	Commission Agent	32 26	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	In St Johns Church	84/843		12 February 1884	Rev H. H. Watson Church of England
50	14 February 1884	Dover Robertson Annie Mary Rosalie Martindale	Dover Roberton Annie Mary Rosalie Martindale 💍 1884/453	Bachelor Spinster		34 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 14 years	In St Lukes Church	84/503		14 February 1884	Rev T. A. Legard Church of England
51	15 February 1884	Isaac Wadsworth Emma Jackson	Isaac Wadsworth Emma Jackson 💍 1884/468	Bachelor Widow	Plasterer	22 25	Christchurch Riccarton	2 years 25 years	House of Mr Jackson	84/520		15 February 1884	Rev R. Taylor Methodist
52	16 February 1884	Morris Gauanoque Louisa Jane Harris	Morris Gananoque Green Louisa Jane Harris 💍 1884/442	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Machinist	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 20 years	House of Mr Harris	84/493	Henry Harris Father	16 February 1884	Rev S. Slocombe Presbyterian
53	18 February 1884	Alexander Ross Emily Boreham	Alexander Ross Ethel Emily Boreham 💍 1884/458	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Servant	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	5 weeks 6 weeks	Registrars Office	84/485		18 February 1884	Registrar of Marriages J. M. Mackerron
54	18 February 1884	William Rogers Violetta Prior	William Rogers Violetta Prior 💍 1884/504	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 7 months	In the Methodist Church	84/535	Harriet [illegible] by Authority to Consent	3 March 1884	R. Charboys Methodist

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 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).