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 242

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
56	18 February 1886	Thomas Mease Phillips Jane Searle	Thomas Morse Phillipa Jane Searle 💍 1886/71	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 10 years	Registrars Office	86/590		18 February 1886	Registrar Marriages
57	19 February 1886	Benjamin Thomas Leatherwick Margaret Broderick	Benjamin Thomas Leathwick Margaret Broderick 💍 1886/715	Widower Spinster	Engine Driver Maid	43 28	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church	86/614		19 February 1886	Rev. L. McGeady
58	22 February 1886	George Norman Hayley Lizzie McClellan	George Norman Hayley Lizzie McClelland 💍 1886/686	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	26 28	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 4 years	Congregational Church	86/560		22 February 1886	Rev. J. Hoodsoon
59	22 February 1886	Gleeg Caygill Janah Jane Robson	Obed Caygill Sarah Jane Robson 💍 1886/673	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Maid	23 24	Christchurch House of J. L. Robson, South West	20 years 4 years	House of J. L. Robson	86/546		22 February 1886	Rev. H. L. Redstone
60	23 February 1886	William Forsyth Elizabeth Bookooki	William Forsyth Elizabeth Borkaski 💍 1886/713	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 11 years	Roman Catholic Church	86/612		23 February 1886	Rev. L. McGeady
61	24 February 1886	George High Landmer Emma Gibbs	George High Lardner Emma Tibbs 💍 1886/691	Widower Spinster	Carrier Servant	51 39	Christchurch Lincoln	3 days 3 days	Baptist Chapel	86/565		24 February 1886	Rev. J. Hawdring
62	24 February 1886	Alexander Thomson Hannah Topper	Alexander Thomson Hannah Soper 💍 1886/680	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	20 22	House of Peter Thomson, Hereford Street Christchurch	9 years 3 years	House of Peter Thomson	86/530	Peter Thomson, Father	24 February 1886	Rev. J. Plumbie
63	24 February 1886	Thomas Hornby Mary Walch	Thomas Hornsby Mary Walsh 💍 1886/714 Thomas Scanlon Mary Glancy 💍 1887/2715	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Servant	31 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 4 years	House of Rev. L. McGeady, Barbados Street	86/613		24 February 1886	Rev. L. McGeady

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).