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 338

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1900 Registrar J. J. Patterson

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

4 January 1900

David Thomas Smith
Florence Caroline Pashby

David Thomas Smith
Florence Caroline Pashby
💍 1900/877

Bachelor
Spinster

27
34

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
2 years

House of Mr. H. C. Court, Office Rd., St. Albans

00/885

4 January 1900

Rev. J. J. Tolle, Baptist

No	9
Date of Notice	4 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Thomas Smith	Florence Caroline Pashby
	💍 1900/877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	27	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. H. C. Court, Office Rd., St. Albans
Folio	00/885
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Tolle, Baptist

4 January 1900

James Berridge
Mary Alice Davidson

James Tatheridge
Mary Ann Davidson
💍 1900/2290

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic

25
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
20 years

Presbyterian Church, North East

00/865

4 January 1900

Rev. F. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	4 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Berridge	Mary Alice Davidson
BDM Match (74%)	James Tatheridge	Mary Ann Davidson
	💍 1900/2290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North East
Folio	00/865
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Fraser, Presbyterian

5 January 1900

George Murdoch Fleming
Margaret Fleming

George Murdoch
Margaret Fleming
💍 1900/2289

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

27
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
27 years

House of Rev. F. Fraser, Fendalton

00/864

5 January 1900

Rev. R. Scott Allan, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	5 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Murdoch Fleming	Margaret Fleming
BDM Match (82%)	George Murdoch	Margaret Fleming
	💍 1900/2289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. Fraser, Fendalton
Folio	00/864
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Scott Allan, Presbyterian

5 January 1900

Ernest Albert John Hooper
Mary Leach Lockhart

Ernest Albert John Hooper
Mary Leach Lockhart
💍 1900/888

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

26
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Sydenham

00/873

5 January 1900

Rev. R. Scott Allan, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	5 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert John Hooper	Mary Leach Lockhart
	💍 1900/888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Sydenham
Folio	00/873
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Scott Allan, Presbyterian

6 January 1900

Frank Robert Brown
Ada Thomas Chapman

Frank Robert Brown
Ada Thomson Chapman
💍 1900/2315

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

32
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
26 years

St. Mark's Church, Opawa

00/922

6 January 1900

Rev. J. G. Cholmondeley, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	6 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Robert Brown	Ada Thomas Chapman
BDM Match (92%)	Frank Robert Brown	Ada Thomson Chapman
	💍 1900/2315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Opawa
Folio	00/922
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Cholmondeley, Anglican

6 January 1900

George Milton Spencer
Christina Johnson

George Milton Spencer
Christina Schroeder
💍 1900/901

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

11 years
21 years

Methodist Church, St. Joseph St.

00/892

6 January 1900

Rev. R. J. Murray, Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	6 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Milton Spencer	Christina Johnson
BDM Match (79%)	George Milton Spencer	Christina Schroeder
	💍 1900/901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, St. Joseph St.
Folio	00/892
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Murray, Methodist

6 January 1900

Robert Hope Moncrieff Aitken
Gladys Beryl Mudie Lannach

Robert Hope Moncrieff Aitken
Gladys Beryl Dudie Larnach
💍 1900/844

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep-farmer

27
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
9 months

St. Mary's Church, Addington

00/828

6 January 1900

Rev. W. J. Bean, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	6 January 1900
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hope Moncrieff Aitken	Gladys Beryl Mudie Lannach
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Hope Moncrieff Aitken	Gladys Beryl Dudie Larnach
	💍 1900/844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep-farmer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	00/828
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1900
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Bean, 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 1903. 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).