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 846

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1899 Registrar J. M. Vankeeson

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
223	22 May 1899	William Johnston Brown Margaret Kyle Spen	William Johnston Margaret Dyke 💍 1899/2292	Bachelor Spinster	Policeman Tailoress	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 23 years	Wesleyan Church	99/2229		22 May 1899	Rev. R. W. Lee, Wesleyan
224	22 May 1899	Herbert Austin Fletcher Maude Mary Ashworth	Herbert Austin Fletcher Maud Mary Ashworth 💍 1899/2301	Bachelor Spinster	Cadet	24 21	Sydenham Sydenham	2 years 21 years	House of Mr. R. Pellow, Burlingham Street	99/2215		22 May 1899	Rev. D. D. Horth, Baptist
225	23 May 1899	Edwin Thomas Cheesman Lucy Mitchell Spen	Edwin Thomas Cheesman Lucy Mitchel 💍 1899/3574	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Tailoress	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 7 years	St. Paul's Church, Cashel Street Church	99/3528	Lucy Mitchell, Mother	23 May 1899	Rev. D. Henshie, Presbyterian
226	23 May 1899	Percival Barnett Beatrice Franklin	Percival Barnett Beatrice Franklin 💍 1899/2740	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 years	Good Shepherd, Linwood	99/2790		23 May 1899	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Anglican
227	24 May 1899	John Francis Gallacher Mary Ann McPhail	John Francis Gallagher Mary Ann McPhail 💍 1899/2193	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	39 35	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Mrs. Down, Sydenham	99/265		24 May 1899	Rev. R. S. Allan, Presbyterian
228	25 May 1899	Benjamin Barr Catherine Elizabeth Nuttall	Benjamin Barr Catherine Elizabeth Nuttall 💍 1899/2137	Widower Spinster	Fireman Domestic	46 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	99/2131		25 May 1899	J. M. Vankeeson, Registrar of Marriages
229	25 May 1899	Edward Palmer Chapman Ethel Mary Gray	Edward Palmer Chapman Ethel Mary Gray 💍 1899/2217	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	42 28	Christchurch Christchurch	42 years 28 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	99/2147		25 May 1899	Rev. C. A. Fraser, Anglican
230	25 May 1899	Charles McCree Lena Jane Williams	Charles McCree Lena Jane Williams 💍 1899/2180	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Domestic	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 24 years	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch	99/2176		25 May 1899	Ven. Arch. Lingard, 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).