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 584

District of Quarter ending

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
1	3 January 1885	Edmund Hall Charlotte Ellen Heap	Edmund Hall Charlotte Ellen Hesp 💍 1885/3645	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Servant	30 17	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 12 years	Templeton Church	85/3839	Robert Heap, Father	3 January 1885	Rev. A. C. Wright
2	3 January 1885	Henry Sinclair Mary Ann Corbett	Henry Sinclair Mary Ann Corbett 💍 1885/585	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 28	Burnham Burnham	3 1/2 years 10 years	House of Thomas Corbett	85/591		3 January 1885	Rev. R. J. Porter
3	5 January 1885	Francis Eaton Kenney Vlenia Bennett	Francis Exton Kemmey Eliza Bennett 💍 1885/633	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	25 16	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 16 years	Registrar's Office	85/665	John Bennett, Father	5 January 1885	J. M. Mackinnon
4	5 January 1885	Arthur Llewellyn Helen Mary Gray	Arthur Llewellyn Barker Helen Mary Gray 💍 1885/647	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	35 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 17 years	Halswell Church	85/624	Ernest Gray, Father	5 January 1885	Rev. H. East
5	7 January 1885	Patrick McHugh Mary Shannon	Patrick McHugh Mary Shannon 💍 1885/1468	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 27	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	Roman Catholic Church	85/1514		7 January 1885	Rev. L. McGuirty
6	7 January 1885	Alfred William Harriet Lawrence	Alfred William Badham Harriet Lawrence 💍 1885/637	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 22 years	Club Hotel	85/609		7 January 1885	Rev. J. Crump
7	9 January 1885	George William Sarah Jane Martin	George William Carrington Sarah Jane Martin 💍 1885/823	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 6 days	Phillipstown Church	85/553		9 January 1885	Rev. R. J. Gebbie
433	18 December 1884	Walter John Magdalene Miller	Walter John King Amelia Emma Magdalene Miller 💍 1885/650	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 1 year	St. Lukes Church	85/629	No person having authority to consent	3 January 1885	Rev. R. L. Lingard
453	29 December 1884	George Arthur Ada Redfern Buller	George Arthur Young Ada Redfern Buller 💍 1885/828	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 22	Christchurch Christchurch	9 months 2 years	House of Mr. Young	85/538	No person having authority to consent	12 January 1885	Rev. R. Best

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).