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 288

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar J. M. Patterson

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
247	1 May 1901	William John Meddran Tippet Mary Levina Goudmer	William John Meddran Tippet Mary Levina Gardner 💍 1901/2164	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 6 years	House of Mr. Nicholson, 6 Tuam Street, Christchurch	01/2504		2 May 1901	Rev. W. Dawson, Wesleyan
248	2 May 1901	Harold Dunwell Bunley Clare Gunby Smith	Harold Dunwell Bunby Clare Gunby Smith 💍 1901/2172	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon Dental	32 33	Christchurch Auckland	12 years 18 years	Wesleyan Church, Auckland	01/2506		2 May 1901	Rev. S. M. Nicole, Wesleyan
249	6 May 1901	John Faith Charlotte Hutchinson	John Faith Charlotte Hutchinson 💍 1901/2065	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Domestic	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 1 year	House of Rev. G. Irwin, 1 Kilmore Road, St. Albans	01/2470		6 May 1901	Rev. G. Irwin, Presbyterian
250	6 May 1901	Antonio Pierre Fanny Elizabeth Allen	Antonui Pierr Fanny Elizabeth Allen 💍 1901/3249	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 23 years	St. John's Church, Belfast	01/3784		6 May 1901	Rev. F. Tunnage, Anglican
251	7 May 1901	Edward John Hampton Walker Amelia Mary Amanda Forsey	Edward John Hampton Walker Amelia Mary Amanda Forsey 💍 1901/2079	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 12 years	House of Wm. Forsey, 7 Joseph Street, Linwood	01/3462	Robert William Forsey, father	7 May 1901	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian
252	7 May 1901	Walter James Bryant Eliza Crow	Wallis James Bryant Eliza Craw 💍 1901/2126	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	21 16	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 16 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/2387	John Crow, father	7 May 1901	Registrar of Marriages
253	8 May 1901	Robert John Winthrop Kate Cleary	Robert John Winthrop Kate Cleary 💍 1901/2127	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	20 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months 23 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/2388	No person having authority to consent	8 May 1901	Registrar of Marriages

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).