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 340

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar Frederick William Mansfield

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
571	30 October 1901	Andrew Augustine Blake Lilias Maude Wykes	Andrew Augustine Blake Lilias Maude Wykes 💍 1901/4696	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Dressmaker	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 23 years	St. Mary's Church, Christchurch	01/5283		30 October 1901	Rev. M. J. Marnane
572	30 October 1901	John Alexander Stevenson Alice Jane Smart	John Alexander Stevenson Alice Jane Smart 💍 1901/4721	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 7 years	Wesleyan Church, East Belt	01/5308		30 October 1901	Rev. Chas. H. Laws
573	31 October 1901	Richard Thomas Bickerton Maud Gwendolyn Morgan	Richard Thomas Bickerton Maud Gwendolyn Morgan 💍 1901/5968	Bachelor Spinster	Pyrotechnist	24 20	New Brighton Opawa	20 years 6 years	St. Mark's Church, Opawa	01/5324	John Albert Morgan, Father	31 October 1901	Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley
574	1 November 1901	Norman Dillwyn Francis Elizabeth Violet Scott	Norman Dillwyn Francis Elizabeth Violet Scott 💍 1901/4627	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	19 19	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 19 years	Residence of Mr. A. Scott, 208 Waltham Rd, Waltham	01/5234	Elizabeth Amelia Francis, mother of groom; Emily Edmonds, mother of bride	1 November 1901	Rev. Isaac Sarginson
575	1 November 1901	Victor James Thurber Davies Sarah Alice Tabley	Victor James Theker Davies Sarah Alice Talley 💍 1901/4737	Bachelor Spinster	Bicycle Tyre Maker	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	7 months 8 years	Wal Bay Villas, South Belt, Sydenham	01/5310		1 November 1901	Rev. R. J. Murray
576	2 November 1901	Lawrence St. Johnston Mary Ann Smith Milne	Lawrence St Johnston Edward Mary Ann Smith Milne 💍 1901/4739	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 33	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Residence of Mr. Warren, 98 Hindmill Road, Sydenham	01/5312		2 November 1901	Rev. Wm. Simpson

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).