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 895

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
105	9 April 1891	George Clemens Famellenen Ellen Elizabeth Hollabon	George Charles Faulkner Ellen Elizabeth Hollobon 💍 1891/671	Bachelor Spinster	Bookbinder	30 23	Sydenham Sydenham	3 years 4 years	St. Michaels Church Christchurch	91/1565		9 April 1891	Rev. W. Harper Church of England
106	10 April 1891	William Frederick Richands Alice Hanson	William Frederick Richards Alice Harrison 💍 1891/749	Bachelor Spinster	Freeman	32 32	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 3 days	St. Johns Church Christchurch	91/1521		10 April 1891	Rev. W.S. Home Church of England
107	10 April 1891	Archibald Butters Margaret Ann Harrison	Archibald Butters Margaret Ann Harrison 💍 1891/817	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	52 23	Sheffield Christchurch	1 year 5 months	Registrar Sheffield Office	91/589		10 April 1891	Registrar Marriages J. Wanklynson
108	10 April 1891	James Gregory Nancarrow Susan Nancarrow	James Ayrey Susan Nancarrow 💍 1891/764	Bachelor Spinster	Clicker	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 19 years	Registrar Office	91/1592	James Nancarrow Father	10 April 1891	Registrar Marriages J. Wanklynson
109	10 April 1891	Henry Harold Roberts Elizabeth Harriet Selpe	Henry Harold Roberts Elizabeth Harriet Alpe 💍 1891/818	Bachelor Spinster	Cabman	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Registrar Office	91/1590		10 April 1891	Registrar Marriages J. Wanklynson
110	11 April 1891	Alexander Cunnan Jane Gilbraith	Alexander Annan Jane Gilbraith 💍 1891/638	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months	House of John Denbigh Woollison	91/1508	No person having authority to consent	25 April 1891	Rev. W. Isitt Wesleyan
111	11 April 1891	Arthur Alfred Vincent Jane Tracy Bridges	Arthur Alfred Vincent Jane Fray Bridges 💍 1891/731	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	St. Lukes Church Christchurch	91/1527	Francis Bridges Father	11 April 1891	Rev. W. McKenzie Gibson 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).