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 1407

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
353	27 October 1888	Sutton Channington Clara Feldwick	Linton Charrington Gardiner Clara Feldwick 💍 1888/3172	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 3 years	Merivale Church	88/3268		27 October 1888	Rev J. Havell, Church of England
354	27 October 1888	Alfred Arthur Henry Jerroldshaw Annie Elizabeth Wright	Alfred Arthur Henry Scrimshaw Annie Elizabeth Wright 💍 1888/3119	Bachelor Spinster	Undertaker	23 25	Christchurch Addington	23 years 10 years	House of Rev J. Parkin	88/3236		27 October 1888	Rev J. Parkin, Methodist
355	30 October 1888	Frederick Witty Lucy Tobacco	Frederick Witty Lucy Tobeck 💍 1888/3105	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 21 years	St. Andrew's Manse	88/3223		30 October 1888	Rev G. Webster, Presbyterian
356	30 October 1888	Joseph Murgatroyd Jane Clarkson	Joseph Murgatroyd Jane Clarkson 💍 1888/3208	Bachelor Spinster	Wool-broker	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 4 days	Wesleyan Church, Durham St.	88/3205		30 October 1888	Rev W. J. Williams, Wesleyan
357	30 October 1888	John Murgatroyd Mary Alice Fletcher	John Murgatroyd Mary Alice Fletcher 💍 1888/3209	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Broker	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 4 days	Wesleyan Church, Durham St.	88/3206		30 October 1888	Rev W. J. Williams, Wesleyan
358	31 October 1888	Frederick Joseph Arnold Clara Jackson	Frederick Joseph Arnold Clara Jackson 💍 1888/3130	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Machinist	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 12 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/249	Lewis Jackson, Father	31 October 1888	Rev J. Cumming, Roman Catholic
359	1 November 1888	David William Harry Bartram Edith Brookes	David William Harry Bartram Edith Brake 💍 1888/3510	Bachelor Spinster	Timber Merchant	24 21	Lincoln Lincoln	8 years 3 years	St. Stephen's Church	88/3633		1 November 1888	Ven Arch Lingard, Church of England
360	2 November 1888	Dennis Mc. Gough Mary C. O'Connor	Denis McGaugh Mary OConnor 💍 1888/3131	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Cook	32 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	88/3250		2 November 1888	Rev A. Halbwachs, Roman Catholic

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).