Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 237

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1886 Registrar J. J. Parkerson

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

14 January 1886

Frederick Schumacher
Elizabeth Coleman

Frederick Schumacher
Elizabeth Coleman
💍 1886/718

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Servant

22
19

Papanui
St. Albans

22 years
19 years

St. Matthews Church

86/1017

Robert Coleman, Father

14 January 1886

Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	14 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Schumacher	Elizabeth Coleman
	💍 1886/718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Servant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Papanui	St. Albans
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	86/1017
Consent	Robert Coleman, Father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Gillam, Church of England

15 January 1886

Hugh Clerk Barrie
Elizabeth Morse

Hugh Clark Barrie
Elizabeth Morse
💍 1886/3456

Bachelor
Spinster

Asst. Publisher

19
18

Sydenham
Sydenham

19 years
18 years

House of William Howard, Coleridge Street

86/541

Thomas Morse, Father

15 January 1886

Rev. W. Keall, Wesleyan

No	17
Date of Notice	15 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Clerk Barrie	Elizabeth Morse
BDM Match (97%)	Hugh Clark Barrie	Elizabeth Morse
	💍 1886/3456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Asst. Publisher
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	19 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of William Howard, Coleridge Street
Folio	86/541
Consent	Thomas Morse, Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Keall, Wesleyan

16 January 1886

Walter John Bowden Radford
Isabella Walker

Walter John Bowden Radford
Isabella Walker
💍 1886/668

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Servant

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
23 years

House of Wm. Walker, Ward Street

86/542

16 January 1886

Rev. J. R. Cairns, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	16 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Bowden Radford	Isabella Walker
	💍 1886/668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Servant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Wm. Walker, Ward Street
Folio	86/542
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Cairns, Presbyterian

16 January 1886

George Barty
Annie Jacobs

George Barty
Annie Jacobs
💍 1886/702

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer
Servant

31
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
10 years

Registrar's Office

86/575

16 January 1886

Registrar, Marriage

No	19
Date of Notice	16 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Barty	Annie Jacobs
	💍 1886/702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer	Servant
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	86/575
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Marriage

16 January 1886

Henry Taylor Aders
Jane Hoodless

Henry Taylor Akers
Jane Hookham
💍 1886/682

Bachelor
Spinster

Wine Merchant

39
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
22 years

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

86/532

16 January 1886

Rev. I. Chefferfield, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	16 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Taylor Aders	Jane Hoodless
BDM Match (78%)	Henry Taylor Akers	Jane Hookham
	💍 1886/682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wine Merchant
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	86/532
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Chefferfield, Church of England

16 January 1886

Ernest Harold Wesley
Bertha Butler

Ernest Harold Withey
Bertha Butler
💍 1886/3410

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

26
24

Linwood
Linwood

3 months
3 months

St. John's Church

86/13448

16 January 1886

Rev. C. Wright, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	16 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harold Wesley	Bertha Butler
BDM Match (93%)	Ernest Harold Withey	Bertha Butler
	💍 1886/3410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	86/13448
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Wright, Church of England

18 January 1886

Charles Barritt
Mary Ann Millbank

Charles Barritt
Mary Anne Millham
💍 1886/82

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootcutter
Servant

32
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office

86/548

18 January 1886

Registrar, Marriages

No	22
Date of Notice	18 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Barritt	Mary Ann Millbank
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Barritt	Mary Anne Millham
	💍 1886/82
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootcutter	Servant
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	86/548
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Marriages

18 January 1886

Edward Henry Hughes
Hannah Hicks

Edward Henry Hughes
Grace Hannah Hicks
💍 1886/696

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
25 years

St. Paul's Church, Papanui

86/552

18 January 1886

Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	18 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Hughes	Hannah Hicks
BDM Match (83%)	Edward Henry Hughes	Grace Hannah Hicks
	💍 1886/696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanui
Folio	86/552
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley, Church of England

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).