Intentions to Marry, 1892

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840404, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

Page 1343

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1892

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
60	9 March 1892	Robert Hayes Baker Grace Mary Robertson	Robert Hayes Baker Grace Mary Robertson 💍 1892/574	Bachelor Spinster	Currier Dressmaker	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church, York Belt	92/584	9 March 1892	Rev R. Erwin, Presbyterian
61	10 March 1892	Hugh Hamilton Mary Bryant Sargeant	Hugh Hamilton Mary Bryant Sargent 💍 1892/612	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger	30 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 4 years	Registrars Office	92/630	10 March 1892	Registrar, J. M. Patterson
62	10 March 1892	William Smellie Mary Anne Sutherland	William Smellie Mary Ann Sutherland 💍 1892/1865 William Ross Annie Sutherland 💍 1892/1241	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Teacher	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 25 years	House of Mr John Smellie, East Belt	92/985	10 March 1892	Rev F. Unslie, Presbyterian
63	11 March 1892	Robert Blayney Somerville Lottie Pound	Robert Blayney Somerville Lottie Pound 💍 1892/610	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 weeks	Registrars Office	92/628	11 March 1892	Registrar, J. M. Patterson
64	14 March 1892	Henry Currie Barratt Fannie Augusta Spray	Henry Currie Barratt Fannie Augusta Spray 💍 1892/611	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office	92/629	14 March 1892	Registrar, J. M. Patterson
65	16 March 1892	Max Hirschburg Mary Charlotte Owens	Max Hirschburg Mary Charlotte Owens 💍 1892/640	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher of Music	33 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 7 years	St. Michaels Church	92/607	16 March 1892	Rev W. Harper, Church of England
66	16 March 1892	David Cooper Shier Ada Theodore Mappin Saunders	David Couper Shier Ada Theodora Maggie Saunders 💍 1892/1866	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 10 years	House of Mr Saunders, Thorlton Street	92/1986	16 March 1892	Rev F. Unslie, Presbyterian
67	22 March 1892	Edward Bowler Millton Maude Eliza Ford	Edward Bowler Millton Maud Eliza Ford 💍 1892/581	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep farmer	31 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 24 years	St. Peter's Church, Riccarton	92/570	22 March 1892	Rev W. J. P. Cowles, 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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).