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 1401

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
373	4 November 1886	William George Gee Bessie Nancarrow	William George Alfred Gee Bessie Nancarrow 💍 1886/3106	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	20 19	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 19 years	Registrars Office	86/3079	William Gee & James Nancarrow, Fathers	4 November 1886	J.M. Patterson, Registrar Marriages
374	4 November 1886	Charles Parsons Jane Drinkwater	Charles Parsons Jane Drinkwater 💍 1886/3108	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Machinist	22 24	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 6 years	Registrars Office	86/3081		5 November 1886	J.M. Patterson, Registrar Marriages
375	6 November 1886	Abner Edwin Hawker Margaret Aldous	Abner Edwin Slack Margaret Aldons 💍 1886/3454	Widower Widow	Hawker Housekeeper	43 37	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 6 months	St. Johns Church	86/3573		6 November 1886	Rev. H. Watson, Church of England
376	6 November 1886	Alexander Jack Mary Jane Rowe	Alexander Jack Mary Jane Rowe 💍 1886/3127	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	18 19	Lepperton Sydenham	9 years 8 years	House of John Rowe, Thackerays Street	86/3104	Peter Jack & John Rowe, Fathers	6 November 1886	Rev. J. McIntosh, Presbyterian
377	6 November 1886	Walter Boot Duncan Hanlon	Walter Boot Emma Stanton 💍 1886/3135	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 3 weeks	St. Lukes Church	86/3135		6 November 1886	Ven. Arch. Lingard, Church of England
378	6 November 1886	William Charles Walters Mary Ellen Haywood	William Charles Walters Ethel Mary Aileen Skyring 💍 1886/3112	Bachelor Spinster	School Master	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 6 days	St. Michaels Church	86/3107	No person having authority to Consent	6 November 1886	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
379	10 November 1886	William Harrison Hannah Buckley	William Harrison Hannah Buckley 💍 1886/3417	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Servant	31 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church	86/3481		10 November 1886	Rev. J. McGuinaty, Roman Catholic
380	10 November 1886	George Martin Jack Haig	George Martin Mary Jack Haig 💍 1886/3144	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 months	Presbyterian Church	86/3144		11 November 1886	Rev. M.R. Parsons, 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).