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 256

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

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

29 January 1894

John Robertson
Maggie Sturgeon

John Robertson
Maggie Sturgeon
💍 1894/658

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

23
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
4 days

St. Andrew's Manse

94/654

29 January 1894

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	29 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robertson	Maggie Sturgeon
	💍 1894/658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse
Folio	94/654
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

29 January 1894

Richard Steel
Alice Martha Hawkins

Richard Steele
Alice Martha Hawkins
💍 1894/680

Widower
Spinster

Brewer
Milliner

42
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
6 years

St. John's Church

94/677

29 January 1894

Rev. H. W. Watson, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	29 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Steel	Alice Martha Hawkins
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Steele	Alice Martha Hawkins
	💍 1894/680
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	Milliner
Age	42	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	94/677
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Watson, Church of England

30 January 1894

Thomas Humphrey Duncan
Agnes McMillan

Thomas Humphrey Duncan
Agnes McMillan
💍 1894/659

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

33
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

House of Mr. J. H. Beancroft, 29 Durham Street

94/655

30 January 1894

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	30 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Humphrey Duncan	Agnes McMillan
	💍 1894/659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. H. Beancroft, 29 Durham Street
Folio	94/655
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

30 January 1894

Frederick Alfred Harmon Walker
Frances Elizabeth Hyde

Frederick Alfred Herman Walker
Frances Elizabeth Hydes
💍 1894/36

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

21
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

94/700

30 January 1894

Registrar J. M. Macfarlane

No	32
Date of Notice	30 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alfred Harmon Walker	Frances Elizabeth Hyde
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Alfred Herman Walker	Frances Elizabeth Hydes
	💍 1894/36
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/700
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Registrar J. M. Macfarlane

30 January 1894

Arthur Job Horwell
Ann Ellen Dowdall

Arthur Job Horwell
Ann Ellen Dowdall
💍 1894/632

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Milliner

23
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
21 years

Wesleyan Church

94/628

30 January 1894

Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Church

No	33
Date of Notice	30 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Job Horwell	Ann Ellen Dowdall
	💍 1894/632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Milliner
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	94/628
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Church

1 February 1894

Thomas Hazard
Rose Hannah Moore

Thomas Hazard
Rose Hannah Moore
💍 1894/626

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Servant

28
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
4 years

St. Giles

94/645

1 February 1894

Rev. A. L. Hayward, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	1 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hazard	Rose Hannah Moore
	💍 1894/626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Servant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Giles
Folio	94/645
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hayward, Church of England

2 February 1894

Michael Burns
Frances Pacie

Michael Burns
Francis Pacie
💍 1894/653

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

25
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

19 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church

94/672

Peter Pacie, father

2 February 1894

Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	2 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Burns	Frances Pacie
BDM Match (96%)	Michael Burns	Francis Pacie
	💍 1894/653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	94/672
Consent	Peter Pacie, father
Date of Certificate	2 February 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).