Intentions to Marry, 1901 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840420, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 134

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 July 1907 Registrar S. B. Broomfield

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
49	3 July 1907	George John Batchelor Matilda Emma Fellow	George John Batchelor Matilda Emma Pellew 💍 1901/3168	Bachelor Spinster	Sugar Boiler Household Duties	32 23	Harper Street, Nelson St. Vincent Street, Nelson	15 years 23 years	At the residence of Edwin Thomas Fellow, St. Vincent Street, Nelson	01/3676		3 July 1907	J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
50	3 July 1907	Leslie Alton Helliard Harriott Louisa Pahl	Leslie Alton Hebberd Harriett Louisa Pahl 💍 1901/3167	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Service	23 20	Takapauka Washington Valley, Nelson	7 days 7 days	At the residence of John Sloes, Washington Valley, Nelson	01/3675	John Pahl, Father	3 July 1907	J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
51	6 July 1907	Robert Octavious Sutton Amelia Catherine Collins	Robert Octavious Sutton Amelia Catherine Collins 💍 1901/3140	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	20 19	Richmond Collingwood Street, Nelson	1 year 19 years	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	01/3669	William Sutton, Father; Edward Collins, Father	6 July 1907	S. B. Broomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
52	22 July 1907	Henry Thomas Kidson Mary Louisa Methuish	Henry Thomas Kidson Mary Louisa Melhuish 💍 1901/3169	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Domestic Duties	30 28	St. Vincent Street, Nelson Hampden Street, Nelson	4 weeks 3 weeks	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	01/3677		22 July 1907	J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
53	23 July 1907	Arthur Gardiner Margaret Vann	Arthur Gardiner Margaret Vann 💍 1901/3170	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Domestic Duties	29 26	Bronti Street, Nelson Parere Street, Nelson	2 years 9 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	01/3678		23 July 1907	J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
54	26 July 1907	Hans Henry Busch Hergia Lusly	Hans Henry Busch Kezia Lusty 💍 1901/3138	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic Duties	23 28	Toitoi Valley, Nelson Richmond	3 months 2.5 years	At the residence of Mr. Francis Lusly, Richmond	01/3667		26 July 1907	R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister
55	29 July 1907	Edward Sutton Jane Ching	Edward Sutton Jane Ching 💍 1901/3564	Widower Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	39 35	Hope Hope	20 years 35 years	At the residence of Mrs. Emma Symonds, Waimea West	01/4036		29 July 1907	Y. G. Carr, Wesleyan Minister
56	30 July 1907	John Keiton Hagart Amelia Ann Harlley	John Victor Hagart Amelia Ann Hartley 💍 1901/3139	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Domestic Duties	38 23	Waimea Street, Nelson Waimea Street, Nelson	4 days 6 weeks	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	01/3668		30 July 1907	S. B. Broomfield, Registrar of Marriages, Nelson
57	31 July 1907	John Nelson Halder Jane Lydia Mary Bradley	John Nelson Walder Jane Lydia Mary Bradley 💍 1901/3171	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Household Duties	25 24	Hardy Street, Nelson Wakefield Quay, Nelson	3 years 24 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	01/3679		31 July 1907	J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
58	10 August 1907	Nathaniel Hooper Amy Gertrude Binford	Nathaniel Hooper Amy Gertrude Burford 💍 1901/3172	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman Household Duties	31 27	Milton Street, Nelson Cambria Street, Nelson	10 days 5 weeks	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	01/3680		10 August 1907	J. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

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 1901. 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).