Intentions to Marry, 1899 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840415, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington (now located in the National Library reading room), September 5 2025

1899 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 313

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1899 Registrar S Falk

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
66	13 February 1899	William Henry Ewings Frances Mary Wakelin	William Henry Ewings Frances Mary Wakelin 💍 1899/655	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer Domestic	21 21	Spreydon Papanui	1 month 12 months	Registrar's Office Ch Ch	99/731		13 February 1899	Registrar Marriage J Manderson
67	14 February 1899	Frank Henry Bradshaw Sarah Ann Thomas	Frank Henry Bradshaw Sarah Ann Thomas 💍 1899/866	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	35 20	Cashmere Lincoln	4 years 20 years	Anglican Church Lincoln	99/772	Thomas Thomas, father	14 February 1899	Rev H. Northcote, Anglican
68	14 February 1899	John Vincent Price Lily Emma Langford	John Vincent Price Lily Emma Langford 💍 1899/876	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	6 Years 20 Years	House of Mr H. Langford, London Street	99/758	Henry Langford, Father	14 February 1899	Rev J. Orchard, Wesleyan
69	15 February 1899	James Joseph Barnes Mary Alma Crocker	James Joseph Barnes Mary Alma Crocker 💍 1899/931	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	21 16	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	21 Years 16 Years	St Marys Church Halswell	99/819	Robert Henry Crocker, Father	15 February 1899	Rev H. Williams, Anglican
70	15 February 1899	Frederick Horace George Samuel Clarkson Clara Isabel Foder	Frederick Horace George Samuel Clarkson Clara Isabel Forder 💍 1899/856	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	26 24	Linwood Christchurch	26 Years 24 Years	St Lukes Church	99/788		15 February 1899	Ven Archd Lingard, Anglican
71	16 February 1899	Richard Sydney Caffyn Jane Connolly Rose	Richard Sydney Caffyn Mary Jane Connolly 💍 1899/656	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	35 31	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 4 days	Registrar's Office Ch Ch	99/732		16 February 1899	Registrar Marriage M Anderson
72	18 February 1899	William Bayliss Sarah Willetts	William Bayliss Sarah Willetts 💍 1899/881	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	35 24	Opawa Christchurch	8 months 10 days	St Marys Church Addington	99/762 (3)		18 February 1899	Rev H. J. C. Blathwayt, Anglican
73	20 February 1899	Charles James Ball Mary Isabella Taylor	Charles James Ball Mary Isabella Taylor 💍 1899/844	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Teacher	27 25	Linwood Christchurch	10 Years 10 Years	Baptist Church Oxford Terrace	99/798		20 February 1899	Rev C. D. Bode, Baptist

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 1899. 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).