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 255

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

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

22 January 1894

Staples Hamilton
Louisa Annie Preston

Staples Hamilton
Louisa Annie Preston
💍 1894/2262

Widower

Clerk
Housekeeper

34
28

Leeston
Christchurch

10 years
1 month

St. Mary's Leeston Church

94/2154

22 January 1894

Rev. H. T. Purchas, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	22 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Staples Hamilton	Louisa Annie Preston
	💍 1894/2262
Condition	Widower
Profession	Clerk	Housekeeper
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Leeston Church
Folio	94/2154
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Purchas, Church of England

23 January 1894

William Henry Uren
Henrietta Green

William Henry Wren
Henrietta Green
💍 1894/675

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
6 days

Registrar's Office

94/695

23 January 1894

Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

No	23
Date of Notice	23 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Uren	Henrietta Green
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Wren	Henrietta Green
	💍 1894/675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/695
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

23 January 1894

Thomas Allen Innes
Emily Eliza Butterfield

Thomas Allum Innes
Emily Eliza Butterfield
💍 1894/621

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
22

Christchurch
St. Albans

18 years
22 years

St. Matthew's Church

94/641

23 January 1894

Rev. H. Williams, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	23 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Allen Innes	Emily Eliza Butterfield
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Allum Innes	Emily Eliza Butterfield
	💍 1894/621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	18 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	94/641
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Church of England

23 January 1894

Charles Oliver McCutcheon
Jessie Thomas

Charles Oliver McCutcheon
Jessie Thomas
💍 1894/679

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Servant

35
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

30 years
6 years

Registrar's Office

94/699

Nicholas Thomas, father

23 January 1894

Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

No	25
Date of Notice	23 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Oliver McCutcheon	Jessie Thomas
	💍 1894/679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Servant
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	30 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/699
Consent	Nicholas Thomas, father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

23 January 1894

James McLean
Christiana Agnes Austin

James McLean
Christiana Agnes Austin
💍 1894/676

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatbuilder

41
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

13 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

94/696

23 January 1894

Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

No	26
Date of Notice	23 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McLean	Christiana Agnes Austin
	💍 1894/676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatbuilder
Age	41	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	13 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/696
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

24 January 1894

Robert Hutton Ritchie
Fanny Hunt

Robert Huttan Ritchie
Fanny Hunt
💍 1894/678

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Farmer

49
38

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 days
6 days

Registrar's Office

94/698

24 January 1894

Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

No	27
Date of Notice	24 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hutton Ritchie	Fanny Hunt
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Huttan Ritchie	Fanny Hunt
	💍 1894/678
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Farmer
Age	49	38
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/698
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Registrar, J. M. Macpherson

24 January 1894

Augustus Matthew Turnpenny
Mary Annie Marriott Harris

Augustus Mathew Turnpenny
Mercy Annie Marriott Harris
💍 1894/665

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Servant

27
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
19 years

House of Rev. W. Birch

94/686

George Harris, father

24 January 1894

Rev. W. Birch, Baptist

No	28
Date of Notice	24 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Matthew Turnpenny	Mary Annie Marriott Harris
BDM Match (94%)	Augustus Mathew Turnpenny	Mercy Annie Marriott Harris
	💍 1894/665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Servant
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. Birch
Folio	94/686
Consent	George Harris, father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Birch, Baptist

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 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).