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 644

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
137	21 April 1888	Henry Watson Alice Maria Philpott	Henry Watson Lydia Maria Philpott 💍 1888/1604	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 25	Christchurch Harwood Road Christchurch	18 years 25 years	House of John Philpott	88/1550		21 April 1888	Rev. C. H. Stansage Wesleyan
138	21 April 1888	George Alfred Montgomery Elizabeth Harper	George Alfred Montgomery Elizabeth Harper 💍 1888/1533	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	27 19	Christchurch Ashbourne Christchurch	12 years 19 years	House of John Harper	88/1499	Elizabeth Harper, mother	21 April 1888	Rev. W. S. Bean Church of England
139	23 April 1888	Thomas Pearson Alice Briggs	Thomas Pearson Alice Briggs 💍 1888/1588	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	29 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months	Papanni Church	88/1464	Edwin Briggs, father	23 April 1888	Rev. J. C. S. Hoare Church of England
140	23 April 1888	Henry Felby Pizey Stella Fisher		Widower Widow	Bank Clerk	51 35	Christchurch Christchurch	13 days 10 years	Holy Trinity Church	88/1500		23 April 1888	Rev. W. A. Pascoe Church of England
141	23 April 1888	Albert Richard Jarman Catherine Frances Harwood	Albert Richard Jarman Catharine Frances Harwood 💍 1888/1531	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 20 years	Prebbleton Church	88/1497	Harwood, father	23 April 1888	Ven. Arch. Thorpe Church of England
142	24 April 1888	Francis Robert Nott Alice Hart	Francis Robert Nott Maude Hart Gardener 💍 1888/1881	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller Gardener	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 21 years	St. John's Church Latimer Sq.	88/1916		24 April 1888	Rev. H. E. Watson Church of England
143	24 April 1888	Samuel Sommerville Annie Sommerville	Samuel Sommerville Annie Sommerville 💍 1888/1549	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	36 29	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 14 years	Church of Good Shepherd Phillipstown	88/1507		24 April 1888	Rev. H. E. Gilbert Church of England
144	24 April 1888	John Samuel Boaz Jane Leslie Henderson	John Samuel Boag Jane L Henderson 💍 1888/1571	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 15 years	House of Wm. Henderson	88/1458		24 April 1888	Rev. J. Dunlea Presbyterian
145	24 April 1888	Thomas Quaid Johanna Mahoney	Thomas Quaid Johanna Mahoney 💍 1888/1573	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 3 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/1470		24 April 1888	Rev. D. Smythe Roman Catholic
146	25 April 1888	George Henry Stanley Annie Maria Pester	George Henry Stanley Annie Maria Parker 💍 1888/1589	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Christchurch Harwood Road Christchurch	25 years 5 years	House of Pester	88/1465	Pester, father	25 April 1888	Rev. J. C. S. Hoare Church of England

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).