Intentions to Marry, 1894

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840406, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025

Page 252

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar J. M. Markerson

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

1 January 1894

David Hyndman
Janet May Thompson

David Hyndman
Janet May Thompson
💍 1894/613

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

19 years
21 years

All Saints Church

94/624

1 January 1894

Rev. W. F. Knowles, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hyndman	Janet May Thompson
	💍 1894/613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	94/624
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Knowles, Church of England

3 January 1894

Henry Munday Mardon
Emily Jane Le Gros

Henry Munday Mardon
Emily Jane Le Gros
💍 1894/4063

Bachelor
Spinster

Woodturner
Tailoress

26
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
20 years

St. Johns Church

94/676

3 January 1894

Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Munday Mardon	Emily Jane Le Gros
	💍 1894/4063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woodturner	Tailoress
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio	94/676
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England

4 January 1894

Walter Dawson
Louisa Caroline Hunt

Walter Lawson
Louisa Caroline Hunt
💍 1894/673

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

28
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
8 days

St. Johns Church

94/675

4 January 1894

Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	4 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Dawson	Louisa Caroline Hunt
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Lawson	Louisa Caroline Hunt
	💍 1894/673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	8 days
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio	94/675
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England

4 January 1894

William Henry Glen
Margaret Catherine McGeorge

William Henry Glen
Margt Atkinson McGeorge
💍 1894/1633

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab Owner

27
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 years
14 years

House of Mr. Jas. Glen, Manchester Street, Chch

94/642

Samuel McGeorge, father

4 January 1894

Rev. F. Knowles, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Glen	Margaret Catherine McGeorge
BDM Match (80%)	William Henry Glen	Margt Atkinson McGeorge
	💍 1894/1633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab Owner
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Jas. Glen, Manchester Street, Chch
Folio	94/642
Consent	Samuel McGeorge, father
Date of Certificate	4 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Knowles, Presbyterian

6 January 1894

Reginald Webber
Margaret Anderson Nixon

Reginald Webber
Margaret Anderson Nixon
💍 1894/645

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
20 years

St. Michaels Church

94/665

6 January 1894

Rev. F. A. Scott, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	6 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Webber	Margaret Anderson Nixon
	💍 1894/645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church
Folio	94/665
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Scott, Church of England

8 January 1894

David Gibson Petrie
Jessie Borthwick

David Gibson Petrie
Jessie Borthwick
💍 1894/1634

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

30
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
26 years

St. Pauls Church, Cashel Street

94/643

8 January 1894

Rev. F. Knowles, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	8 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Gibson Petrie	Jessie Borthwick
	💍 1894/1634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Cashel Street
Folio	94/643
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Knowles, Presbyterian

8 January 1894

John Smith
Maud Matilda Sellgrove

John Smith
Maud Matilda Snellgrove
💍 1894/651

Widower
Widow

Stonemason

50
45

Christchurch
Christchurch

30 years
5 days

Roman Catholic Church, Barbados Street

94/670

8 January 1894

Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	8 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Maud Matilda Sellgrove
BDM Match (98%)	John Smith	Maud Matilda Snellgrove
	💍 1894/651
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Stonemason
Age	50	45
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Barbados Street
Folio	94/670
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).