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 793

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar J. L. Bush

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
53	11 April 1901	Harold William Royds Marian Margaret Quartine		Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	27 24	Gladstone Invercargill Invercargill	2 years 24 years	St Johns Church Tay Street	01/2853	11 April 1901	Ven Archdeacon Stocker
54	18 April 1901	Robert Deatson Harriet Emily Smoothy	Robert Matson Harriet Emily Smoothy 💍 1901/2395	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	24 21	Invercargill Invercargill	5 days 1 week	Office of Registrar Marriages	01/2843	18 April 1901	J. L. Bush, Registrar
55	22 April 1901	Thomas Harry Willday Catherine Carmen Lauredo	Thomas Harry Willday Norton Catherine Carmein Laiviedo 💍 1901/3876	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	27 28	Invercargill Invercargill	26 years 28 years	House of Rev Wm Burke Tay Street	01/4405	22 April 1901	Rev Wm Burke
56	6 May 1901	James Henry Russell Annie Walker	James Henry Russell Annie Walker 💍 1901/2439	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 23	Invercargill Invercargill	5 years 23 years	House of Rev Andrew Walker Ritchie Street	01/2863	6 May 1901	Rev Geo Lindsay
57	9 May 1901	Thomas Henry Huchy Annie Isabella McCreath	Thomas Henry Hinchey Annie Isabella McCreath 💍 1901/3741	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	29 23	South Invercargill East Invercargill	1 year 23 years	All Saints Church Gladstone	01/4195	9 May 1901	Rev D. C. Bates
58	13 May 1901	Harry Lines Florence Elizabeth Smith	Harry Lines Florence Elizabeth Smith 💍 1901/2475	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 22	Invercargill Invercargill	21 years 21 years	Salvation Army Barracks Tay Street	01/2875	14 May 1901	Staff Captain W. Bishop
59	14 May 1901	George Langdon Amelia McEwen	George Langdon Amelia McGiverson 💍 1901/2455	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	30 29	Invercargill Invercargill	8 months 1 month	House of Rev J Greenhill Stfrick Street	01/2871	14 May 1901	Rev J Greenhill
60	14 May 1901	Henry Robert Diandas Caroline Ellen Johnstone	Henry Robert Dundas Caroline Ellen Johnstone 💍 1901/2444	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	44 22	Invercargill Invercargill	34 years 5 years	House of Rev J. Gibson Beaumont Street	01/2867	14 May 1901	Rev J. Gibson Smith

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).