Intentions to Marry, 1887

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840399, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 993

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1887

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
259	25 August 1887	John William Badcock Lydia Mary Livingstone	John William Swift Lydia Mary Eleanor Livingstone 💍 1887/619	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	22 17	Belfast Belfast	2 years 2 years	Papanui Church	87/2252	Mother	25 August 1887	Rev. J. G. Hoare
260	29 August 1887	Harry Charles Badcock Susan Emily Petterbridge		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	36 33	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 7 years	Good Shepherd	87/2229		29 August 1887	Rev. H. J. Gilbert
261	29 August 1887	Francis George Badcock Margaret Shields		Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	29 34	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 2 days	St. Lukes Church	87/2260		29 August 1887	Ven. Arch. Lingard
262	29 August 1887	Henry Collins Badcock Maria Hermina Israelsen	Henry Collins Maria Hermine Israelsen 💍 1887/3648	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Dressmaker	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 days 6 years	House of Mr. Israelsen	87/2265	Father	29 August 1887	Rev. P. W. Jones
263	29 August 1887	Frederic Barkas Badcock Ann Parker	Frederic Barkas Amy Parker 💍 1887/596	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	33 37	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 1 year	St. Michaels Church	87/2225		29 August 1887	Rev. H. T. Purchas
264	31 August 1887	James Fairweather Isabella Jane Bound Mackenzie	James Fairweather Isabella Jane Borwick MacKenzie 💍 1887/630	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	Registrars Office	87/2288		31 August 1887	J. M. Rolleston
265	31 August 1887	William John Guy Alice Clark	William John Guy Alice Clark 💍 1887/1946	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 24	Yaldhurst Yaldhurst	7 years 4 weeks	Riccarton Church	87/3664		31 August 1887	Rev. C. Bowden
266	31 August 1887	Reynold Bray Louisa Alexander Couilliard	Reginald Bray Louisa Alexandra Couilliard 💍 1887/592	Bachelor Spinster		37 21	Opawa Christchurch	3 years 1 week	Avonside Church	87/2221		31 August 1887	Rev. W. A. Pascoe
267	31 August 1887	William Priest Helen Hammond	William Priest Helena Hammond 💍 1887/609	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch Terrace	10 days 1 week	Baptist Chapel	87/2244		31 August 1887	Rev. C. Dallaston
268	2 September 1887	George Barrett Mary Woodham	George Barrett Mary Woodham 💍 1887/589	Bachelor Widow	Gardener	35 50	Opawa Opawa	2 months 17 years	Opawa Church	87/2241		2 September 1887	Rev. S. J. Cholmondeley

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).