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 646

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
157	2 May 1888	Edward Inghmen Annie Whitehead	Edward Ingham Annie Whitehead 💍 1888/1637	Bachelor Widow		34 34	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 4 years	Registrar's Office	88/1565		2 May 1888	Registrar of Marriages
158	3 May 1888	John Cansland Leinee Jane Taylor	John McCausland Lizzie Jane Taylor 💍 1888/1560	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 12 years	Church of the Good Shepherd, Phillipstown	88/1508		3 May 1888	Rev. J. C. Gilbert
159	3 May 1888	Clement Thomas Crooke Mary Ann Gay	Clement Thomas Crooke Mary Anne Gay 💍 1888/1574	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 20 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/1471	John Gay, father	3 May 1888	Rev. P. Smythe
160	3 May 1888	Thomas Herman Bisman Emily Sophia Smoke	Thomas Herman Bisman Emily Sophia Small 💍 1888/1633	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 10 years	Registrar's Office	88/1561	William Same, father	3 May 1888	Registrar of Marriages
161	4 May 1888	Richard Robert Beec Julia King	Richard Robert Bell Julia King 💍 1888/3397	Bachelor Spinster	Woolstapler Dressmaker	38 32	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 16 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/1472		4 May 1888	Rev. P. Smythe
162	4 May 1888	Charles Ginley Elizabeth Cudlife	Charles Tinley Elizabeth Ardell 💍 1888/1576 Charles Gillard Elizabeth Douglas 💍 1888/1046 Charles Wagland Elizabeth Eagle 💍 1888/3068 Charles Massey Elizabeth Best 💍 1888/740 Charles Alexander Elizabeth McCaffrey 💍 1888/1784	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/1474		4 May 1888	Rev. P. Smythe
163	5 May 1888	Clement Thomas Crooke Mary Ann Gay	Clement Thomas Crooke Mary Anne Gay 💍 1888/1574	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 20 years	House of John Gay	88/1471	John Gay, father	5 May 1888	Rev. W. Isitt
164	5 May 1888	George Hubbard Amy Walls	George Hubbard Amy Watts 💍 1888/1554	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 22	Greenpark Greenpark	7 years 7 years	Baptist Chapel	88/1520		5 May 1888
165	5 May 1888	Edward Messenger Mary Ann Hubbard	Edward Tunmer Mary Ann Hubbard 💍 1888/2379	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 7 years	Chapel	2401	Hubbard, father	5 May 1888	Rev. J. H. Hammond
166	7 May 1888	James Patterson Margaret Ann Clarke	Samuel Patterson Guiney Margaret Ann Clarke 💍 1888/1551	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher Teacher	35 25	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Congregational Church	88/1517		7 May 1888	Rev. J. Hantrous

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).