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 573

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
71	3 March 1885	William Cullimore Chiles Annie Rebecca Wallace	William Sullivan Annie Rebecca Wallace 💍 1885/581	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Dressmaker	26 20	Linwood Linwood	2 months 2 months	Registrar Office	85/884	No person in NZ having custody or control or guardian	17 March 1885	Registrar of Marriages J. J. Patterson
72	4 March 1885	James Alfred Hooper Mary Bennett	James Alfred Hooper Mary Bennett 💍 1885/564	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Laundress	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 6 years	Registrar Office	85/585	[illegible] consent	4 March 1885	Registrar of Marriages J. J. Patterson
73	6 March 1885	William Guy Osborne Annie Osborne	William Guy Annie Osborne 💍 1885/648	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 19	St. Albans Sydenham	7 years 5 months	House of Wm. Guy Osborne, Byron Street	85/610	William Guy Osborne, Father	6 March 1885	Rev. J. Crump
74	9 March 1885	Davis Hill Mary Hudspith	Davis Hunt Mary Hudspith 💍 1885/566	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 3 days	St. Mary's Church, Addington	85/595		9 March 1885	Rev. H. East, Church of England
75	9 March 1885	Edward George Power Mildred Rosie Betham Edwards	Edward George Power Mildred Bessie Betham Edwards 💍 1885/575	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	34 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 4 years	Registrar Office	85/586	Edward Betham Edwards, Father	9 March 1885	Registrar of Marriages J. J. Patterson
76	9 March 1885	Thomas Edward Robson Ellen Cotter	Thomas Edwin Robson Ellen Cotter 💍 1885/657	Bachelor Spinster	Publican Machinist	20 20	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 20 years	House of Christian Robson	85/613	James Cotter, Father	9 March 1885	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian
77	9 March 1885	Percy Edward Hubbard Gladys Elasson Syble	Percy Edward Hubbard Gladys Syble Glasson 💍 1885/824	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	21 17	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Good Shepherd Church, Phillipstown	85/554	Henry Elasson, Father	9 March 1885	Rev. H. C. Sellars, Church of England
78	12 March 1885	Robert Eggleston Elizabeth Fee	Robert Eggleston Elizabeth Fee 💍 1885/1593	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	34 28	St. Albans St. Albans	3 years 10 years	House of Mrs. Fee	85/593		12 March 1885	Rev. R. Best, Wesleyan
79	16 March 1885	Edward Anthony Rowland Anne Macdonald	Edward Anthony Rowland Anne Macdonald 💍 1885/572	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	31 22	Christchurch Sydenham	6 years	House of John Macdonald, Sydenham	85/607	John Macdonald, Father	16 March 1885	Rev. J. 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).