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 1277

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
33	28 January 1891	Richard Hosking Annie Thompson	Richard Hosking Annie Thompson 💍 1891/3681	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 20 years	Registrar's Office	91/636		28 January 1891	S. H. Registrar Marriage Henry Adams
34	29 January 1891	William Gross Gertrude Maud Sharp	William Goss Gertrude Maud Strange 💍 1891/3643 William OGrady Gertrude Mary Malone 💍 1891/378	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 20 years	St. Luke's Church Manchester Street	91/604	Edward Strange, Father	29 January 1891	The Archdeacon Lingard, Church of England
35	2 February 1891	Alfred Chapman Barkle Rosalin Barkle	Alfred Chapman Rosalina Barkle 💍 1891/3659	Bachelor Spinster	Moulder	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 16 years	Registrar's Office	91/638	John Barkle, Father	2 February 1891	S. H. Registrar Marriage Henry Adams
36	3 February 1891	Arthur Francis Redwood Minnie Brennan	Arthur Francis Redwood Minnie Brennan 💍 1891/3587	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Hotelkeeper	26 27	Christchurch Ohoka	12 days 1 year	Roman Catholic Church Rangiora	91/561		3 February 1891	Rev. Father O'Connor, Roman Catholic
37	3 February 1891	John Joseph Adams Isabella Main Donald	John Joseph Adams Isabella Mason Donald 💍 1891/1268	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	21 22	Christchurch Papanui	3 weeks 22 years	House of Mr. James Small	91/1957		3 February 1891	Rev R. McGregor, Presbyterian
38	5 February 1891	William Hobbs Ann Hobbs	William Hobbs Ann Hobbs 💍 1891/3653	Widower Widow	Commission Agent	55 38	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 12 years	St. Michael's Church	91/608		5 February 1891	Rev W. Harper, Church of England
39	5 February 1891	Peter Ellis Margaret Bennett	Peter Ellis Margaret Bennetts 💍 1891/3660	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 17 years	Registrar's Office	91/639		5 February 1891	S. H. Registrar Marriage Henry Adams
40	9 February 1891	Robert Arthur Gott Jamesina Alexander Dewsbury	Robert Arthur Gott Jamesina Alexander Dewsbury 💍 1891/3612	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 25	Christchurch Lincoln Road	7 years 20 years	United Methodist Free Church	91/578		9 February 1891	Rev J. Edwards, United Methodist

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).