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 281

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar J. M. Pearson

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
205	10 April 1901	Reginald Thomas Leishman Fenerty Adelaide Ellen Armstrong	Reginald Thomas Leishman Fenerty Adelaide Ellen Armstrong 💍 1901/1996	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 18 years	St. Michael's Church, Good Shepherd, Linwood	01/2421	10 April 1901	Rev. H. R. Ensor, Anglican
206	11 April 1901	George Dearsly Margaret Dawber	George Dearsly Mena Dawber 💍 1901/2160	Widower Spinster	Salesman	41 30	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 10 days	House of Alfred Sawber, 30 Months Canal Reserve, Linwood	01/2518	11 April 1901	Rev. J. Sarginson, Congregational
207	11 April 1901	Arthur Stuart Palmer Mina Louisa Palmer	Arthur Stuart Palmer Mina Smith 💍 1901/2159	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	24 24	Christchurch Redcliffs	4 years 2 years	Congregational Church, Ferry Road	01/2517	11 April 1901	Rev. J. Sarginson, Congregational
208	12 April 1901	Willie Ernest Page Mary Jane Hand	Willie Ernest Page Mary Jane Hand 💍 1901/2184	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	26 28	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 26 years	House of Mr. C. W. Hand, Hillmorton	01/2542	12 April 1901	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist
209	12 April 1901	Archibald Cruger Reynolds Blanche Gerard Reynolds	Archibald Cruger Murray-Aynsley Blanche Gerard 💍 1901/2149	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	36 34	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 20 years	Church of St. Barnabas, Fendalton	01/2435	12 April 1901	Rev. M. A. Hamilton, Church of England
210	12 April 1901	Walter Henry Kiver Helena May Marman	Walter Henry Kiver Helena May Shannan 💍 1901/3260	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 3 years	St. Mary's Church, Addington	01/3794	12 April 1901	Rev. W. J. Bean, Anglican
211	13 April 1901	Francis Arthur Pyne Grace Madeleine Seager	Francis Arthur Pyne Grace Madeline Seager 💍 1901/2008	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	26 30	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 30 years	St. Michael's Church, Ch. Ch.	01/2713	13 April 1901	Rev. A. W. Averill, 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 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).