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 652

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
217	15 June 1888	Your Foote Bridget Hogan	Tom Foote Bridget Hogan 💍 1888/1580	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/1478		15 June 1888	Rev P. Smyth
218	15 June 1888	Charles Henry Mathers Elizabeth McDonald	Charles Henry Mathers Elizabeth McDonald 💍 1888/3523	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	28 29	Christchurch Christchurch	8 months 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	88/1457		15 June 1888	Rev P. Smyth
219	16 June 1888	John Prestney Susan Fuller	John Prestney Susan Fuller 💍 1888/1530	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Luke's Church	88/1496		16 June 1888	Ven Arch Deans
220	18 June 1888	George James Sheppard Mary Jane Thomas	George James Shepperd Mary Jane Thomas 💍 1888/1621	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 6 months	Registrar's Office	88/1572		18 June 1888	J. M. Ponderosa
221	19 June 1888	Charles Henry Mathers Elizabeth McDonald	Charles Henry Mathers Elizabeth McDonald 💍 1888/3523	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	25 29	Christchurch Christchurch	8 months 1 year	Registrar's Office	88/1571		19 June 1888	J. M. Ponderosa
222	19 June 1888	Walter James Dennis Edith Frances Langridge	Walter James Dennis Frances Edith Langridge 💍 1888/1559	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	23 23	Christchurch Worcester St, Christchurch	23 years 23 years	House of Rev. J. Law	88/1526		19 June 1888	Rev J. Law
223	20 June 1888	William Henry Lockwood Helena Anne Walton	William Henry Lockwood Helena Anne Skelton 💍 1888/1613	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 12 years	St. Saviour's Church	88/1536		20 June 1888	Rev H. B. Cocks
224	21 June 1888	Arthur Edward Wilson Eliza Berry	Arthur Edward Wilson Emma Eliza Berry 💍 1888/2498	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	25 20	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 14 years	Registrar's Office	88/2424	Mother of Bride	21 June 1888	J. M. Ponderosa
225	22 June 1888	Edmund Hattery Margaret Walsh	Edward Slattery Margaret Jane Walsh 💍 1888/1581	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 17	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church	88/1479	Father of Bride	22 June 1888	Rev P. Smyth
226	22 June 1888	Robert Thomas Day Ada Mary Orange	Robert Thomas Day Ada Mary Orange 💍 1888/1622	Bachelor Spinster	Trainer	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 9 years	Registrar's Office	88/1573		22 June 1888	J. M. Ponderosa

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).