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 628

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
129	14 April 1886	John Read Elizabeth Maria Sprister		Bachelor Spinster	[illegible] Servant	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	St. Peters Church	86/1490	14 April 1886	Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley
130	15 April 1886	George Baker Ada Forder	George Baker Ada Forder 💍 1886/1560	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 12 years	St. Lukes Church	86/1498	15 April 1886	Ven: Arch: Dugard
131	16 April 1886	Henry Oldham Matilda Hobson	Henry Oldham Matilda Hobson 💍 1886/151	Widower Spinster	Hotel Manager Servant	34 21	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 6 months	Registrars Office	86/1424	16 April 1886	Registrar J. Moullesson
132	17 April 1886	John Nivian Sincock Catherine Waterreus	John Vivian Sincock Cornelia Katherine Waterens 💍 1886/3403	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer Servant	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 3 years	St. Johns Church	86/1465	17 April 1886	Rev. R. R. Getway
133	17 April 1886	George Fookes Siotherpe Staples	George Folkes Henry Caroline Sibthorpe Staples 💍 1886/1568	Bachelor Widow	Insurance Agent Teacher	29 31	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 20 years	St. Lukes Church	86/1478	17 April 1886	Ven: Arch: Dugard
134	19 April 1886	Felix Henning Emma Manley	Felix Fleming Emma Morley 💍 1886/1551	Widower Spinster	Builder	61 47	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 22 years	House of Felix Henning, Richmond	86/1485	19 April 1886	Rev. G. Issued
135	19 April 1886	Robert Willies Harriet Doughty	Robert Middlemas Harriet Monroe 💍 1886/1975	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	30 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 2 years	St. Michaels Church	86/1410	19 April 1886	Rev. W. Harper
136	19 April 1886	Henry Valentine Allcock Helen Hughes	Henry Valentine Allen Helen Hughes 💍 1886/140	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Servant	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	Registrars Office	86/1425	19 April 1886	Registrar J. Moullesson
137	19 April 1886	George Henry White Marion Painter	George Henry White Marion Painter 💍 1886/1567	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Governess	27 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 1 month	St. Lukes Church	86/1477	19 April 1886	Ven: Arch: Dugard

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).