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 313

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar J. W. Marrisson

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
421	5 August 1901	Edward Joseph Reid Alice Gertrude Thethowan	Edward Joseph Reid Alice Gertrude Trethowan 💍 1901/3296	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman Dressmaker	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 21 years	Trinity Church	01/3806		5 August 1901	Rev. W. A. Bove, Anglican
422	5 August 1901	William Anderson Frances Dunman Hickinbottom	William Anderson Frances Emma Hickenbottom 💍 1901/3619	Bachelor Spinster	Engraver Domestic	24 30	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	House of Mrs. Hickinbottom, Madras St, Christchurch	01/3868		5 August 1901	Rev. J. W. Simpson, Presbyterian
423	6 August 1901	Donald Campbell Brown Margaret Jane Taylor	Donald Campbell Bowen Margaret Jane Taylor 💍 1901/3610	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Tailoress	19 20	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 20 years	Wesleyan Church, Christchurch	01/3860	William Henry Brown, Father; Hannah Taylor, Mother	6 August 1901	Rev. W. B. Saumbee, Wesleyan
424	6 August 1901	Percy Hopkins Pavitt Emma Bell Opie	Percy Stephen Pavitt Emma Bell 💍 1901/3305	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 29	Christchurch Christchurch	30 years 29 years	St. Lukes Church, Christchurch	01/3815		6 August 1901	Rev. Archdeacon [illegible], Anglican
425	7 August 1901	William Henry Hutton Ethel Elizabeth Cambridge	William Henry Hutton Ethel Elizabeth Combridge 💍 1901/3278	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 21 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/3763		7 August 1901	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Marrisson
426	7 August 1901	Henry Robert Blythe Louisa Brightmore	Henry Robert Blythe Louisa Brightmore 💍 1901/3364	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Housekeeper	25 27	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 27 years	House of Mr. W. Blythe, Percy St, Christchurch	01/3878		7 August 1901	Rev. C. R. Ward, Methodist
427	7 August 1901	Leslie Lodge Isabel Fitzpatrick	Leslie Lodge Isabel Fitzpatrick 💍 1901/3277	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 20 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/3762		7 August 1901	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Marrisson
428	7 August 1901	Charles Henry Rushton Mary Jane Kennedy	Charles Henry Rushton Mary Jane Kennedy 💍 1901/3328	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Laundress	37 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 23 years	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch	01/3823		7 August 1901	Rev. A. W. Rowe, 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).