Intentions to Marry, 1897 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840412, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 303

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1897

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
344	24 August 1897	Fred Smith Lillian Dowdle	Fred Smith Lillian Eva Annie Dowdle 💍 1897/2062	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Fitter	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 18 years	House of Rev. R. S. Allan, Harper Street	97/3277	Elizabeth Allan, Mother	24 August 1897	Rev. R. S. Allan, Presbyterian
345	24 August 1897	Alfred Samuel Childs Lucy Clark	Alfred Semion Childs Lucy Clark 💍 1897/2085	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 27	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 20 years	House of Mrs. Mapleson, McLean Street, Christchurch	97/3301		24 August 1897	Rev. C. Porter, Wesleyan
346	25 August 1897	William George Walden Frances Charlotte Beny Baszley	William George Walden Frances Charlotte Berry Baseley 💍 1897/2108	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	97/3317		25 August 1897	Rev. H. J. Monckton, Church of England
347	27 August 1897	Reuben Albert Voice Lilian Lee	Reuben Albert Voice Lilian Lee 💍 1897/2097	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 23	Christchurch Templeton	22 years 21 years	Bible Christian Church, Christchurch	97/3312		27 August 1897	Rev. J. Hosking, Wesleyan
348	28 August 1897	Frederick Scott Larcombe Annie Maginness	Frederick Escott Larcombe Annie Maginness 💍 1897/2194	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 32	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 32 years	House of Mr. John Maginness, Christchurch	97/3392		28 August 1897	Rev. Jas. A. Hosking, Wesleyan
349	28 August 1897	Abdul Borham Ellen Egan		Bachelor Widow	Hawker	28 36	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 20 years	House of Mrs. Egan, 20 Arch Street, Christchurch	not solemnized		28 August 1897	Rev. Father Cummins, Roman Catholic
350	28 August 1897	Samuel Septimus Blunt Jane Smither	Samuel Septimus Blunt Jane Embleton 💍 1897/2036	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	71 55	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 20 years	House of Mrs. Blunt, Salisbury Street, Christchurch	97/3251		28 August 1897	Rev. J. H. Leyon, Wesleyan
351	30 August 1897	Frank Hickinbottom Emma Annie Scott	Frank Hickenbottom Emma Annie Scott 💍 1897/2051	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 22 years	House of Mr. Hickinbottom, Madras Street, Christchurch	97/3267		30 August 1897	Rev. J. H. Simpson, Presbyterian

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).