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 957

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1893

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
104	13 April 1892	John Blanche Amy Chapman	John Blanche Amy Chapman 💍 1892/1468	Bachelor Spinster	Well Sinker Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	Registrars Office	92/1586		13 April 1892	Registrar Marriages J. J. Matherison
105	13 April 1892	Robert Nicholls Sarah Georgina Heumell de Seconde	Robert Nicholls Sarah Georgina Henrietta Luscombe 💍 1892/1424	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 weeks 2 weeks	St. Lukes Church	92/1563	Roger Heumell de Seconde, father	13 April 1892	Rev. N. E. W. Watson, Church of England
106	13 April 1892	Thomas Lawson Thompson Lucie Marguerite Coy	Thomas Lawson Thompson Lucie Margaret Cay 💍 1892/1694	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	35 27	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 9 months	St. Johns Church	92/1999		13 April 1892	Rev. N. E. W. Watson, Church of England
107	13 April 1892	Archibald Doherty Elizabeth Betts	Archibald Doherty Elizabeth Betts 💍 1892/4012	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	33 27	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 10 years	Registrars Office	92/1587		13 April 1892	Registrar Marriages J. J. Matherison
108	13 April 1892	William McLachlan Euphemia Hay	William McLachlan Euphemia Hay 💍 1892/2658	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 31	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 31 years	House of Wm. Hay, Sydenham	92/2891		13 April 1892	Rev. J. Macfarlane, Methodist
109	14 April 1892	George Samuel Ellingford Margaret Marshall	George Samuel Ellington Margaret Mitchell Marshall 💍 1892/1382	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Sorter	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 9 years	House of Wm. Marshall, St. Asaph St.	92/1519		14 April 1892	Rev. J. Orchard, Bible Christian
110	19 April 1892	John Healey Marion Ray Douglas	John Healey Mercer Marion Rae Douglas 💍 1892/1417	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 14 days	House of David Douglas, Papanui	92/1533		19 April 1892	Rev. J. Campbell, Presbyterian
112	19 April 1892	Andrew Hope Frame Constance Cleve Searle	Andrew Hope Frame Constance Clive Searle 💍 1892/1436	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 6 months	Salvation Army Barracks	92/1574		19 April 1892	Mr. F. H. Veale, Salvation Army

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).