Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 521

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1891

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
245	13 August 1891	Frank Ambrose Dye Marie Mathews	Frank Ambrose Lye Maria Mathews 💍 1891/1537	Bachelor Spinster	Range Fitter Tailoress	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 16 years	Holy Trinity Church	91/2432		13 August 1891	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England
246	15 August 1891	Francis Knowles Ann E. Connor Alabaster	Francis Knowles Ann O'Connor Alabaster 💍 1891/1628	Widower Widow	Clerk in Holy Orders	61 49	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 30 years	St. Lukes Church	91/2456		15 August 1891	Rev. W. H. Gibson, Church of England
247	18 August 1891	James Thomson Agnes Wilson	James Thomson Agnes Wilson 💍 1891/1641	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Driver	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 17 years	St. Pauls Church Cashel St. Chch	91/2463	Agnes Wilson, mother	18 August 1891	Rev. J. Hendrie, Presbyterian
248	19 August 1891	George Bertram Rumsey Emma Brouchland	George Bertram Emma Brouckland 💍 1891/1688	Bachelor Widow	Housekeeper	45 41	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 3 years	Registrars Office	91/2485		19 August 1891	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Maddison
249	19 August 1891	Thomas William Voller Louisa Edith Watts	Thomas William Voller Louisa Edith Watts 💍 1891/1541	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 5 years	Baptist Chapel Oxford Terrace	91/2436		19 August 1891	Rev. E. Dallaston, Baptist
250	26 August 1891	William Raston Susan Perrie Harris Brett	William Easton Susan Perrin Harris Brett 💍 1891/1689	Widower Spinster	Evangelist	41 42	Christchurch Christchurch	7 months 25 years	Registrars Office	91/2486		26 August 1891	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Maddison
251	28 August 1891	William Pepper Frances Catherine Mary Gaze	William Pepper Frances Catherine Mary Gaze 💍 1891/1637	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 16 years	House of Mr. Gaze, Mary St.	91/2459		28 August 1891	Rev. J. Orchard, Bible Christian
252	29 August 1891	Charles Smith Ellen Jane Handley	Charles Smith Ellen Jane Stanley 💍 1891/1542 Charles Smith Melina Gawler 💍 1891/3161 Charles Smith Emily Cheer 💍 1892/3813	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	8 months 19 years	Baptist Chapel	91/2437	William Stanley Handley, father	29 August 1891	Rev. E. Dallaston, Baptist

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).