Intentions to Marry, 1899 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840416, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole 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 839

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1899 Registrar J M Anderson

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
418	2 October 1899	Arthur George Wright Priscilla Grace Walker	Arthur George Wright Emilie Grace Walker 💍 1899/4968	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 15 years	Anglican Church Avonside	99/4771		2 October 1899	Rev W A Pascoe Anglican
419	2 October 1899	William Henry Parris Catherine King	William Henry Parris Catherine King 💍 1899/96	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office Ch Ch	99/4727		2 October 1899	Registrar of Marriages J M Anderson
420	2 October 1899	Richard Henry Button Elizabeth Hastings	Richard Henry Dutton Elizabeth Hastings 💍 1899/4010	Bachelor Widow	Contractor Housekeeper	40 48	Christchurch Christchurch	30 years 15 years	House of Mr R. H. Button Kingsley St Sydenham	99/4756		2 October 1899	Rev R. Scott Allan Presbyterian
421	3 October 1899	John Carr McCaw Grace Dolly Herron	John Carr McCaw Grace Dolly Herron 💍 1899/4082	Bachelor Spinster	Bacon Curer Domestic	23 18	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 18 years	House of Mr Smith Grafton St Linwood	99/4822	John J. Herron Father	3 October 1899	Rev J Orchard Wesleyan
422	3 October 1899	Alfred Harris Mary Jane Savage	Alfred Harris Mary Jane Savage 💍 1899/4015	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 20	Sydenham Sydenham	3 Years 20 Years	St Saviours Church Sydenham	99/4761	Eleanor Savage Mother	3 October 1899	Rev E. A. Scott Anglican
423	4 October 1899	David Neave Eleanor Amelia Rowles	David Neave Eleanor Amelia Rowles 💍 1899/4011	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Tailoress	28 19	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 19 years	St Andrews Church Ch Ch	99/4757	James Rowles Father	4 October 1899	Rev R. Scott Allan Presbyterian
424	5 October 1899	William Gilpin Florence Ethel Bligh	William Gilpin Florence Ethel Bligh 💍 1899/5365	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Domestic	30 21	Sumner Christchurch	6 Years 4 Years	House of Mr Turpin Cathedral Square Ch Ch	99/5394		5 October 1899	Rev Dr Elmslie Presbyterian
425	5 October 1899	Samuel Knight Edith Emma Jane Lucas	Samuel Knight Edith Emma Jane Lucas 💍 1899/4047	Bachelor Spinster	Hatter Tailoress	41 31	Christchurch Christchurch	12 Years 31 Years	St Michaels Church Christchurch	99/4984		5 October 1899	Rev C. A. Fraer Anglican

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).