Intentions to Marry, 1888

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840400, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 1033

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1888

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
278	4 August 1888	Thomas Stephen Blanchard Katherine Maud Hicks	Thomas Stephen Blanchard Katherine Maude Hicks 💍 1888/2485	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	24 16	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 16 years	Registrars Office	88/2435	Hicks, mother	4 August 1888	J M Parker
279	6 August 1888	John Hancock Broome Elizabeth Ann Broome	John Hancock Elizabeth Ann Broome 💍 1888/2486	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 10 years	Registrars Office	88/2436		6 August 1888	Registrar of Marriages
280	6 August 1888	Henry Watson Fanny Jane Herrick	Henry Watson Fanny Jane Herrick 💍 1888/2339	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	Christchurch St Albans	24 years 22 years	Wesleyan Chapel	88/2384		6 August 1888	Rev J J Lewis
281	7 August 1888	Arthur Searrell Cordelia Frances Jackson	Arthur Searell Cordelia Frances Jackson 💍 1888/2346	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	30 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 19 years	St Pauls Church	88/2391	Jackson, Father	7 August 1888	Rev G W Hoare, Church of England
282	14 August 1888	James Anthony Crocker Jessie Amelia Arnold	James Anthony Crocker Jessie Amelia Arnold 💍 1888/3394	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Baptist Chapel, Oxford Terrace	88/2387		14 August 1888	Rev C Dallaston, Baptist
283	14 August 1888	Harry Brewer Mary Jane Bevan	Harry Brewer Mary Ann Bevan 💍 1888/2345	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 28	Templeton Templeton	5 years 12 years	House of Joseph Bevan, Templeton	88/2372		14 August 1888	Rev J Orchard, Bible Christian
284	15 August 1888	Archibald Manson Emma Jackson	Archibald Manson Emma Jackson 💍 1888/2364	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 19	Christchurch Lincoln	3 days 6 months	Presbyterian Manse	88/2410	Jackson, Father	15 August 1888	Rev H Adamson, Presbyterian
285	15 August 1888	Thomas Chitty Nellie Maud Peters	Thomas Chitty Nellie Maud Peters 💍 1888/2490	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Machinist	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 3 years	Registrars Office	88/2440		15 August 1888	Registrar of Marriages, J M Parker
286	16 August 1888	George Cridge Emma Pierson	George Cridge Emma Pierson 💍 1888/2366	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	27 19	Christchurch Ferry Road	7 years 13 years	St Peters Presbyterian Church	88/2412	Pierson, Father	16 August 1888	Rev H Irwin, Presbyterian
287	17 August 1888	Charles Howell Williams Anna Humm	Charles Howell Williams Anna Humm 💍 1888/2489	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	28 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months	Registrars Office	88/2439		17 August 1888	Registrar of Marriages, J M Parker

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).