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 269

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar J. J. Hollingsworth

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

105

27 March 1894

James Luke
Sarah Curline Beatrice Ellen Hill

Bachelor

Confectioner
Servant

25
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

25 years
5 years

St. Michael's Church No. 105

See Notice No. 105 having authority to consent

No	105
Date of Notice	27 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Luke	Sarah Curline Beatrice Ellen Hill
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Confectioner	Servant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church No. 105
Folio
Consent	See Notice No. 105 having authority to consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

106

28 March 1894

William George Price
Ella Elizabeth Gapes

William George Price
Ella Elizabeth Gapes
💍 1894/776

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

24
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
18 years

Registrar's Office

94/715

James Gapes, Father

28 March 1894

Henry Adams, Registrar

No	106
Date of Notice	28 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Price	Ella Elizabeth Gapes
	💍 1894/776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/715
Consent	James Gapes, Father
Date of Certificate	28 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Henry Adams, Registrar

107

28 March 1894

William Lawbed Johnston
Maria Amelia Kerr

William Lambert Hoban
Maria Amelia Kerr
💍 1894/662

Bachelor
Widow

Solicitor

32
37

Christchurch
Christchurch

32 years
3 months

Roman Catholic Church

94/674

28 March 1894

Rev. Father Cumming, Roman Catholic

No	107
Date of Notice	28 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lawbed Johnston	Maria Amelia Kerr
BDM Match (80%)	William Lambert Hoban	Maria Amelia Kerr
	💍 1894/662
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Solicitor
Age	32	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	32 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	94/674
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Cumming, Roman Catholic

108

29 March 1894

Gresham William Hillman
Louie Raymond Culliford

Gresham William Hillman
Louise Raymonde Culliford
💍 1894/1738

Bachelor

Grocer

30
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 months
10 years

House of Miss McNab

94/655

29 March 1894

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	108
Date of Notice	29 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gresham William Hillman	Louie Raymond Culliford
BDM Match (96%)	Gresham William Hillman	Louise Raymonde Culliford
	💍 1894/1738
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Grocer
Age	30	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Miss McNab
Folio	94/655
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

109

30 March 1894

Herbert William Woladge
Emily Sophia Roach

Herbert Wilkin Woledge
Emily Sophia Roach
💍 1894/631

Bachelor

Porter

23
20

Christchurch
Heathcote

2 years
20 years

House of Mrs. Freeman, Cemetery Road

94/627

Freeman, Mother

30 March 1894

Rev. F. W. Initt, Wesleyan

No	109
Date of Notice	30 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Woladge	Emily Sophia Roach
BDM Match (91%)	Herbert Wilkin Woledge	Emily Sophia Roach
	💍 1894/631
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Porter
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Heathcote
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Freeman, Cemetery Road
Folio	94/627
Consent	Freeman, Mother
Date of Certificate	30 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Initt, Wesleyan

110

31 March 1894

Alfred John Ramsbottom Isherwood
Ada Catherine Shields

Alfred John Ramsbottom Isherwood
Ada Catherine Shields
💍 1894/1681

Bachelor

Constable

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
7 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street

94/694

31 March 1894

Rev. W. J. Warman, Roman Catholic

No	110
Date of Notice	31 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Ramsbottom Isherwood	Ada Catherine Shields
	💍 1894/1681
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Constable
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street
Folio	94/694
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Warman, Roman Catholic

111

31 March 1894

Peter Alexander Young
Selina Prendergast

Peter Alexander Young
Letitia Prendergast
💍 1894/1729

Bachelor

Telegraphist

24
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street

94/669

31 March 1894

Rev. J. Cumming, Roman Catholic

No	111
Date of Notice	31 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Alexander Young	Selina Prendergast
BDM Match (89%)	Peter Alexander Young	Letitia Prendergast
	💍 1894/1729
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street
Folio	94/669
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cumming, 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).