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 412

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar William Shanaghan

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
11	3 April 1901	George Armstrong Hastie Flora McDougall	George Armstrong Hastie Flora McDougall 💍 1901/3437	Bachelor Spinster	Constructor Dressmaker	44 29	Lyttelton Lyttelton	3 years 29 years	Home of George Armstrong, Rushford, Lyttelton	01/3905		3 April 1901	Rev. A. H. Headwell, Presbyterian Minister
12	6 April 1901	James Thompson Elizabeth Taylor Thomas	James Thompson Elizabeth Taylor Thomas 💍 1901/3438	Widower Spinster	Farmer	61 47	Lyttelton Lyttelton	4 days 4 days	Home of Rev. A. H. Headwell, Lyttelton	01/3906		6 April 1901	Rev. A. H. Headwell, Presbyterian Minister
13	11 April 1901	John MacGillivray Mary Ann Henry	John McGillivray Mary Ann Henry 💍 1901/3439	Bachelor Spinster	School Teacher	35 30	Lyttelton Lyttelton	4 days 4 days	Home of Rev. A. H. Headwell, Lyttelton	01/3907		11 April 1901	Rev. A. H. Headwell, Presbyterian Minister
14	19 April 1901	Charles Lunt Priscilla Carter	Charles Lunt Priscilla Carter 💍 1901/2286	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	31 32	Pilot Station, Lyttelton Pilot Station, Lyttelton	4 days 28 years	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton	01/2583		19 April 1901	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister
15	19 April 1901	Bernt Alfred Arneson Harriet Fenton	Bernt Alfred Arnesen Harriet Fenton 💍 1901/2285	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 23	Lyttelton Lyttelton	3 years 23 years	House of Mrs. Fenton, Lyttelton	01/2582		19 April 1901	Rev. W. McConnell, Wesleyan Minister
16	30 April 1901	Robert Garnett Louisa Buckley formerly Mobley	Robert Garnett Louisa Buckley 💍 1901/3416	Widower Widow	Dairyman	52 57	Lyttelton Lyttelton	4 days 50 years	House of Louisa Buckley, Lyttelton	01/3908		30 April 1901	Rev. A. H. Headwell, Presbyterian Minister
17	1 May 1901	Daniel McKenzie Rosamond May Grantham	Daniel McKenzie Rosamond May Grantham 💍 1901/2287	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 19	S.S. Hinemoa, Lyttelton Lyttelton	4 days 19 years	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton	01/2584	Robert W. Grantham, father	1 May 1901	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister
18	7 May 1901	Charles Williams Josephine Pulfrey formerly Cain	Charles Williams Josephine Pidgeon 💍 1901/2323	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	39 33	S.S. Rosamond, Lyttelton Lyttelton	4 days 33 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton	01/2577		7 May 1901	William Shanaghan, Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
19	9 May 1901	Whana Himona Taka Julia Duncan Waihira	Whana Himona Taka Julia Duncan Manihera 💍 1901/2324	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 17	Rapaki Rapaki	1 month 17 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton	01/2578	Duncan Waihira, father	9 May 1901	William Shanaghan, Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

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).