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 267

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1901 Registrar J. M. Macleod

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
119	March 1901	John Thomas Riley Edith Eleanor Ware	John Thomas Riley Edith Eleanor Ware 💍 1901/543	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	31 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months 19 days	House of Miss Ware, 2c Selwyn Terrace	01/974		March 1901	Rev. J. Bull, Wesleyan
120	11 March 1901	Henry Mowbray Harrison Susannah Helene Levan Davies Hills	Henry Mowbray Harrison Susannah Helene Levar Davies Hills 💍 1901/808	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	30 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 22 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/840		11 March 1901	Registrar of Marriages
121	11 March 1901	Charles Daniel Malcolm Rosie Emma Elizabeth Lowe	Charles Daniel Malcorn Rosie Emma Elizabeth Lowe 💍 1901/552	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Domestic	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 25 years	Wesleyan Church, East Belt, Christchurch	01/959		11 March 1901	Rev. H. Laws, Wesleyan
122	11 March 1901	George Lorimer Ironside Emily Marie Osborn	George Lorimer Ironside Emily Maria Osborn 💍 1901/2071	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Teacher	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 10 years	House of Mr. W. Osborn, May St., Richmond	01/875		11 March 1901	Rev. J. Gow, Presbyterian
123	11 March 1901	Frederic Arthur Bradford Laman Louisa Truant	Frederick Arthur Bradford Laura Louisa Smart 💍 1901/1011	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Waitress	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 24 years	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch	01/948		11 March 1901	Rev. J. Tolke, Baptist
124	11 March 1901	George Young Adal Mabel Gibbs	George Young Ada Mabel Gibbs 💍 1901/545	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	27 27	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church, Sydenham	01/976		11 March 1901	Rev. F. Downie, Presbyterian
125	11 March 1901	Francis Squire Harriet Howe	Frances Squire Harriet Hore 💍 1901/1001	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 20 years	House of Rev. E. Ward, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch	01/939	Sampson Howe, father	11 March 1901	Rev. E. Ward, Methodist

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).