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 341

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar I. M. 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
577	4 November 1901	Henry Hobbs Martha Ellen Walker	Henry Hobb Martha Ellen Walker 💍 1901/4682	Widower Widow	Brass Moulder	33 30	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 30 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	01/5219	4 November 1901	Rev. A. W. Averill
578	4 November 1901	George Knapp Harriet Smith	George Knapp Harriet Smith 💍 1901/4881 George Moody Margaret Smith 💍 1901/3068	Widower Widow	Labourer	67 61	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 27 years	Residence of Mrs. Smith, 292, Madras Street, Christchurch	01/5259	4 November 1901	Rev. W. Baumber
579	5 November 1901	Cecil James Gallop Lucy Catherine Wilson	Cecil James Gallop Lucy Catherine Wilson 💍 1901/5454	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 24	Opawa Linwood	2 years 18 months	Residence of Mr. J. Wilson, 10 Charles St, Linwood	01/5962	5 November 1901	Rev. Chas. E. Ward
580	5 November 1901	Thomas Black Annie Louisa Reeve	Thomas Black Annie Louisa Reeve 💍 1901/5456	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer Teacher	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 months	St. Saviour's Church, Sydenham	01/5963	5 November 1901	Rev. E. A. Scott
581	5 November 1901	John Joseph Bishop Honora Theresa Hickey	John Joseph Bishop Honora Theresa Hickey 💍 1901/4704	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	35 32	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 5 days	St. Mary's Church, Christchurch	01/5285	5 November 1901	Rev. M. T. Marnane
582	5 November 1901	John Howard Dolamore Amelia Mary Ann Dolamore	John Howard Dolamore Amelia Mary Ann Dolamore 💍 1901/4698	Bachelor Widow	Journalist	33 37	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 5 days	Residence of Rev. D. Dolamore, Clare St, Christchurch	01/5303	5 November 1901	Rev. J. J. Doke
583	5 November 1901	Thomas Robert O'Callaghan Winnifred Long	Thomas Robert O'Callaghan Winnifred Long 💍 1901/4758	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	22 24	Port Hills Christchurch	22 years 12 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/5184	5 November 1901	I. M. Mansfield, Deputy Registrar

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).