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 1398

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
349	20 October 1886	George Searlet Georgina Janet Aitken	George Scarlett Georgina Janet Aiken 💍 1886/3154	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 25 years	St. Lukes Church	86/3132	Robert Aitken	20 October 1886	Regr. H. Simmons
350	20 October 1886	Henry Papprill Agnes Eliza Sage Hilleir	Henry Papprill Agnes Eliza Sage Hillier 💍 1886/3156	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	25 30	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 10 years	St. Johns Church	86/3134		20 October 1886	Ven. Arch. Lingard
351	21 October 1886	Thomas Richards Sarah Harrison	Thomas Richards Sarah Harrison 💍 1886/3453 Edward Richards Elizabeth Harrison 💍 1886/753	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Johns Church	86/3502		21 October 1886	Rev. H. W. Watson
352	22 October 1886	John McTaggart Grace Annie de Place	John McTaggart Grace Annie De Place 💍 1886/3079	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Dresser	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 19 years	Registrar's Office	86/3074	Duncan de Place, mother	22 October 1886	Registrar of Marriages
353	22 October 1886	Henry Charles Heyder Madeline Emily Clarice Coppson	Henry Charles Heyder Madoline Emily Clarice Dopson 💍 1886/3078	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 4 years	Registrar's Office	86/3073		22 October 1886	Registrar of Marriages
354	22 October 1886	Alfred Phelps Richards Elizabeth Veha Alice Kelly		Bachelor Spinster	Draper	20 17	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 16 years	Registrar's Office	86/3080	Hopper having consent of father, Name of mother	22 October 1886	Registrar of Marriages
355	23 October 1886	Arthur Longden Annie Evelyn Ford	Arthur Longden Annie Evelyn Ford 💍 1886/3500	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 23 years	St. Peters Church	86/3494		23 October 1886	Rev. C. Bowen
356	23 October 1886	John Cookson Phillips Elizabeth Maude Page	John Cookson Phillips Elizabeth Maud Page 💍 1886/3338	Bachelor Spinster	Ironworker	19 19	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 4 years	House of Rev. J. Blunsden, Lichfield St.	86/3599	Richard Page, father	23 October 1886	Rev. J. Blunsden

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).