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 551

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
274	13 September 1892	John Alexander Ferguson Cathers Eliza Fisher Clark	John Alexander Ferguson Crothers Eliza Fisher Clark 💍 1892/3974	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Printer	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 years	House of W. J. Clark, Colombo Road, Christchurch	92/3976		13 September 1892	Rev. T. Fluslie, Presbyterian
275	13 September 1892	Henry Douglas Andrews Edith Maude Davie	Henry Douglass Andrews Edith Maude Davie 💍 1892/2419	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	33 30	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 30 years	St. Lukes Church, Christchurch	92/2518		13 September 1892	Rev. W. Burke, Church of England
276	14 September 1892	Percival Chambers Rainey Courtenay Greenfell Mothers		Bachelor Spinster	Letter Carrier	20 18	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 13 years	House of Mrs. C. R. Chambers, Harper Street, Sydenham	92/2547	Charlotte E. Chambers, Aunt, and Greenfell Mothers, Father	14 September 1892	Rev. J. N. Buttle, Wesleyan
277	15 September 1892	Thomas Mark Lelean Lydia Emma Neumann	Thomas Stark Lelean Lydia Emma Neumann 💍 1892/2539	Bachelor Spinster	Ropemaker Servant	46 18	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 4 years	Registrar's Office, Coffee Palace, Christchurch	92/2575	Lawrence Neumann, Father	15 September 1892	Registrar of Marriages, J. J. Walkerson
278	17 September 1892	Hugh Hunter Letitia Mc. Lee Jeffreys	Hugh Hunter Letitia McKerr 💍 1892/2422	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	31 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 2 years	House of Mrs. Mc. Lee, Fendalton	92/2520		17 September 1892	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
279	17 September 1892	Herbert Edward Newwood White Mary Elizabeth Ethelinda Barry	Herbert Edward Henwood White Mary Elizabeth Ethleen Barry 💍 1892/2438	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Bookbinder	20 17	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 4 years	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch	92/2549	W. J. White, Father, and Consent of Supreme Court	17 September 1892	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
280	19 September 1892	Johnson Bryan Ellen Jane Moore	Johnson Bryan Eliza Jane Moore 💍 1892/2439	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	29 28	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 28 years	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch	92/2550		19 September 1892	Rev. W. Harper, 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).