Intentions to Marry, 1900 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840417, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, September 12 2025

1900 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 339

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar M. Parkerson

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
16	8 January 1900	John Henry Rollinson Martha Louisa May Robbins	John Henry Rollinson Martha Louisa May Watkins 💍 1900/798	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrar Office	00/781		8 January 1900	Registrar M. Parkerson
17	8 January 1900	Charles Francis McCarthy Polly Searle	Charles Francis McCarthy Polly Tearle 💍 1900/2280	Bachelor Spinster	News Vendor Bookbinder	22 24	Sydenham Christchurch	5 years 3 years	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street	00/7856		8 January 1900	Rev. H. J. Mauana, Romanist
18	8 January 1900	William Pritchard Spencer Margaret McConnell	William Pritchard Spencer Margaret McConnell 💍 1900/5256	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	Belfast Christchurch	2 years 3 years	St. Andrew's Church, Tuam Street	00/75139	William Spencer, father	8 January 1900	Rev. A. M. Wright, Presbyterian
19	8 January 1900	Frank Shackleton Lillian Isabel Moore	Frank Shackleton Lillian Isabel Moore 💍 1900/845	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Machinist	27 23	Sydenham Sydenham	15 years 23 years	St. Mary's Church	00/7829		8 January 1900	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican
20	8 January 1900	George Hiron Mary Jane Tagg	George Nixon Mary Jane Fogg 💍 1900/909 George Crichton Mary Anne Nix 💍 1900/419	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Domestic	20 17	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 5 years	House of Mrs. Nixon, Tuam Street	00/7894	Margaret Nixon, mother	23 January 1900	Rev. R. J. Murray, Methodist
21	8 January 1900	Herbert Frederick Ridsdale Esther Sarah Anderson	Herbert Frederick Bickenton Esther Sarah Andersen 💍 1900/2087	Bachelor Spinster	Manufacturer	24 21	Burnwood Christchurch	24 years 11 years	House of Mrs. Anderson, Barbadoes Street	00/73588		8 January 1900	Rev. D. Elmslie, Presbyterian
22	9 January 1900	Alfred Ernest Werry Florence Beatrice Chenoweth	Alfred Ernest Werry Florence Beatrice Chenowith 💍 1900/2294	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. John's Church	00/7846		9 January 1900	Rev. H. C. Watson, Anglican
23	10 January 1900	George Iles Julia Harris	George Iles Julia Harris 💍 1900/2561	Bachelor Widow	Hotelkeeper	28 28	Lyttelton Christchurch	7 months 6 months	St. Luke's Church, Lyttelton	00/7857		10 January 1900	Ven. Archdeacon, 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).