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 245

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1886

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
81	8 March 1886	Frederick John Pudney Amelia Evans Clarke	Frederick John Pudney Amelia Evans Clarke 💍 1886/708	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 11 years	St. Mary's Church	86/558		8 March 1886	Rev H. East, Church of England
82	10 March 1886	Samuel Dawes Susan Maud Collier	Samuel Dawas Susan Maud Collier 💍 1886/79	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter Machinist	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	Registrar's Office	86/591		10 March 1886	Registrar of Marriages
83	11 March 1886	Joseph Robinson Margaret Sinclair	Joseph Robinson Margaret Sinclair 💍 1886/80	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 weeks	Registrar's Office	86/598		11 March 1886	Registrar of Marriages
84	15 March 1886	Arthur Hunt Jane Bell	Arthur Hunt Jane Bell 💍 1886/665	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	37 25	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 5 years	St. Saviour's Church	86/538		15 March 1886	Rev H. K. Cocks, Church of England
85	16 March 1886	Robert Smith Elizabeth Pepper	Robert Smith Elizabeth Pepper 💍 1886/705	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 7 years	House of Wm Pepper	86/555	Richard Pepper, Father	16 March 1886	Rev J. Berry, Wesleyan
86	17 March 1886	Samuel Sadler Annie Rose Pearce	Samuel Sadler Annie Rosa Pearce 💍 1886/81	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	19 18	Sydenham Christchurch	10 years 18 years	Registrar's Office	86/599	George Pearce, Father	17 March 1886	Registrar of Marriages
87	18 March 1886	Arthur Henry Fanny Graves	Arthur Henry Fanny Traves 💍 1886/670	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	House of Rev J. R. Cairns	86/544		18 March 1886	Rev J. R. Cairns, Presbyterian
88	18 March 1886	Alfred Arthur Elizabeth Stanley	Alfred Artus Jane Elizabeth Stanley 💍 1886/692 David Brady Elizabeth Stanley 💍 1886/2561	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	29 30	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 7 years	House of Wm Heaven	86/564		18 March 1886	Rev J. Handring, Baptist

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).