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 246

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
11	11 January 1888	Joseph Gray Alice Meackle	Joseph Gray Alice MacKle Mulholland 💍 1888/673	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	88/533		13 January 1888	Rev. L. McGuity
12	12 January 1888	Frederick Dance Dora Temple	Frederick Lance Dora Temple 💍 1888/675	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep-farmer	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office	88/543		14 January 1888	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Wilkerson
13	13 January 1888	William Healy Margaret Anne King	William Healy Margaret Ann King 💍 1888/613	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 24 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	88/479		16 January 1888	Rev. G. Bond
14	14 January 1888	James Leslie Carter Annie Maria Long	James Leslie Annie Maria Long 💍 1888/667	Bachelor Servant		32 24	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 5 years	St. Paul's Church	88/511		16 January 1888	Rev. J. Elmslie
15	15 January 1888	Thomas Sadler Martha Ellis	Thomas Sadler Martha Ellis 💍 1888/661	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 26	Templeton Templeton	25 years 10 years	Bible Christian Chapel	88/509		18 January 1888	Rev. J. Orchard
16	16 January 1888	Fitzgerald George Westerna Bessie Scott	Fitzgerald George Westenra Bessie Scott 💍 1888/610	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 14 days	Presbyterian Church	88/476		18 January 1888	Rev. R. J. Thorpe
17	17 January 1888	Francis Mulholland Rachel Fleetwood	Francis Mulholland Rachel Sarah Fleetwood 💍 1888/666	Widower Spinster	Cab-owner Servant	33 21	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 21 years	House of Mr. Milliner, Waltham	88/510		18 January 1888	Rev. J. Elmslie
18	18 January 1888	Alfred Ernest Franks Jane Sophia Neilson	Alfred Ernest Franks Jane Sophia Neilson 💍 1888/676	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 15 years	Registrar's Office	88/544	Mother	19 January 1888	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Wilkerson
19	19 January 1888	Samuel Ralston Annie Freight Bourdot	Samuel Ralston Bourdot Annie Fright 💍 1888/611	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Servant	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 23 years	St. Luke's Church	88/477		21 January 1888	Rev. G. D. Chalmers
20	20 January 1888	Henry Rudolph Clarke Mary Anne Ward	Henry Rodolph Clarke Mary Ann Ward 💍 1888/640	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	20 18	Christchurch Cambridge Terrace	4 years 10 years	Primitive Methodist Chapel	88/505	Mary Clarke, mother of groom; James Ward, father of bride	21 January 1888	Rev. P. W. Jones

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).