Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 543

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1885

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
322	7 October 1885	William Roberts Amelia Cocker	William Roberts Amelia Cocker 💍 1885/3220	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker Housekeeper	40 30	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 3 months	House of Charles Harding, Milton Street	85/3397		7 October 1885	Rev. E. Dallaston
323	8 October 1885	Arthur John Wilkes Alice Mary Hanlon	Arthur John Wilkes Alice Mary Hanlon 💍 1885/3229	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker Milliner	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office	85/3404		8 October 1885	J. M. Packwood
324	8 October 1885	John James Will Ada Edith Sawtell	John James Mills Ada Edith Sawtell 💍 1885/3472	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 10 years	House of Vincent Sawtell, Ferry Road	85/3658	Vincent Sawtell, father	8 October 1885	Rev. G. Bond
325	10 October 1885	William James Graham Jane Jackman	William James Graham Matilda Jane Jackman 💍 1885/3270	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 8 years	Church of England	85/3449		10 October 1885	Rev. T. Hovell
326	12 October 1885	Henry John Davis Margaret Groadden	Henry John Davis Margaret Twaddle 💍 1885/3263	Widower Spinster	Bookbinder	40 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 3 years	St. Luke's Church	85/3434		12 October 1885	Ven. Arch. Lingard
327	15 October 1885	Thomas Hancock Ellen Haley	Thomas Hancock Ellen Fahy 💍 1885/3249	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner Servant	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church	85/3429	Her person having authority to Consent	30 October 1885	Rev. L. M. Guerin
328	16 October 1885	David Cantrell Margaret Beaumont	David Cashmill Margaret Beaumont 💍 1885/3267	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	34 24	Lincoln Springston	1 year 12 years	Springston Church	85/3446		16 October 1885	Rev. J. F. Teakle
329	16 October 1885	Walter Merton Fanny Gibson	Walter Morton Ollivier Fanny Gibson 💍 1885/3841	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	35 22	Christchurch Christchurch	32 years 3 years	Church	85/3433		16 October 1885	Rev. J. G. Cholmondeley

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).