Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 641

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1890

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
160	7 May 1890	Frank Joseph Trigance Ellen Hull	Frank Joseph Trigance Ellen Hull 💍 1890/1875	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Servant	19 18	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 4 years	Registrars Office	90/1583	R.W. Trigance, father and Mrs Hull, mother	7 May 1890	J. J. Mounsey
161	8 May 1890	Vincent Clery Mary Hannah Rogers	Vincent Clery Mary Hannah Rogers 💍 1890/1858	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	53 45	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 7 years	Presbyterian Parsonage, Ferry Road	90/1517		8 May 1890	Rev H Irwin, Presbyterian
162	8 May 1890	John Thomas Appleby Mary Skinner	John Thomas Appleby Mary Skinner 💍 1890/3574	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master	31 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 7 years	House of Mr Skinner, Gloucester Street, Ch Ch	90/1522		8 May 1890	Rev C Dallaston, Baptist
163	8 May 1890	Thomas Blyth Lizzie Grace Edward	Thomas Blythe Lizzie Grace Edwards 💍 1890/1848	Widower Spinster	Hotel Manager Housekeeper	48 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 6 years	St Marys Church, Addington	90/1530		8 May 1890	Rev H R East, Church of England
164	8 May 1890	John Bennett Caroline Pearce	John Bennett Caroline Pearce 💍 1890/1885	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 22	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 4 years	House of Mr Pearce, Carlton Terrace, St Albans	90/1571		8 May 1890	Col J. P. Taylor, Salvation Army
165	8 May 1890	Arthur William Sutcliffe Elizabeth Ann Catherwood	Arthur William Sutcliffe Elizabeth Ann Calherwood 💍 1890/953	Widower Spinster	Gasfitter Housekeeper	34 21	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 2 years	House of Mr Elmslie, Lichfield Street	90/1487		8 May 1890	Rev D Elmslie, Presbyterian
166	10 May 1890	Phillip Howard Routham Martha Vera Hall	Philip Howard Rousham Martha Eliza Hall 💍 1890/1876	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	26 17	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 16 years	Registrars Office	90/1584	Jesse Hall, father	10 May 1890	J. J. Mounsey
167	10 May 1890	John James Harwood Clara Dickson	John James Harwood Clara Dickson 💍 1890/3575 John Charles Greenwood Clara Phobe Dickson 💍 1890/2291	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 3 days	St Michaels Church, Ch Ch	90/1555		10 May 1890	Rev W Harper, 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).