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 306

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar M. MacKenzie

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
376	9 July 1901	George Laws Kennedy Irene Radcliffe	George James Kennedy Florence Radcliff 💍 1901/3836	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 1 year	St. Radcliffe Allen Church	01/4320	8 July 1901	Rev. C. R. Ward, Wesleyan
377	9 July 1901	Edwin Clark Jane Carter	Edwin Clark Jane Carter 💍 1901/3314	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	26 24	Papanui Christchurch	23 years 6 years	St. Luke's Church	01/3800	9 July 1901	Rev. T. R. Watson, Anglican
378	9 July 1901	John Tillies Mary Beresford	John Gillies Mary Beresford 💍 1901/3922	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	36 31	Christchurch Linwood	3 days 31 years	St. Luke's Church	01/4355	9 July 1901	Rev. Dr. Elmslie, Presbyterian
379	9 July 1901	William Cuthbert Pykett Sarah Ellen Pleasance	William Cuthbert Pykett Sarah Ellen Pleasance 💍 1901/3312	Bachelor Spinster	Coal Merchant Tailoress	22 27	Riccarton Riccarton	22 years 27 years	St. Luke's Church	01/3821	9 July 1901	Rev. A. W. Robinson, Anglican
380	10 July 1901	James Herbert Kingett Edith Leonard	James Hubert Knight Edith Leonard 💍 1901/3294	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	24 21	Woolston Woolston	24 years 1 year	Registrar's Office	01/3755	10 July 1901	M. MacKenzie, Registrar
381	11 July 1901	Robert Thomson Kate Cameron	Robert Thomson Kate Cameron Wilcox 💍 1901/3900 Robert Thomson Mary Margaret Sullivan 💍 1901/3224	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 36	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 7 years	St. Andrew's Church	01/4414	11 July 1901	Rev. J. MacKenzie, Presbyterian
382	11 July 1901	Theodore Henderson Margaret Lena Peach	Theodore Gundersen Margaret Laura Beach 💍 1901/3271	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	53 47	Linwood Christchurch	15 years 7 years	Registrar's Office	01/3756	11 July 1901	M. MacKenzie, Registrar
383	12 July 1901	William Joseph Ward Sarah Ann Grafton	William Joseph Ward Sarah Ann Grafton 💍 1901/3608	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Saleswoman	23 25	Christchurch Riccarton	28 years 15 months	The Wesleyan Parsonage	01/3858	12 July 1901	Rev. W. Dannell, Wesleyan

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).