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 333

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1901 Registrar J. M. Macfarlane

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
526	5 October 1901	Edward McMurray Back Leah Lydia Winter	Edward McMurray Cuthbert Leah Lydia Winter 💍 1901/4863	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 year	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street, Christchurch	01/5257		5 October 1901	Rev W. Baumber, Wesleyan
527	7 October 1901	Peter Ferguson Campbell Jessie Hyde Watson	Peter Ferguson Campbell Jessie Ryde 💍 1901/4874	Bachelor Widow	Plumber Domestic	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street, Christchurch	01/5258		7 October 1901	Rev W. Baumber, Wesleyan
528	7 October 1901	William Frederick Edith Mary Heggie	William Tredennick Edith Mary Heggie 💍 1901/4886	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	19 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 months	St. Peter's Presbyterian Church, Papanui	01/5264	Stephen Frederick, Father	7 October 1901	Rev W. Simpson, Presbyterian
529	7 October 1901	Louis Henry Mayo Irene Hammond	John Henry Mayo Florence Hammond 💍 1901/4749	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Domestic	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/5176		7 October 1901	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Macfarlane
530	8 October 1901	Frederick William Bond Fanny Mead Fitz-Henry	Frederick William Borrell Fanny Maud Fitz-Henry 💍 1901/4726	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Milliner	32 32	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months	House of Mr. J. Coward, Mr. Faddens, R. P. Albans	01/5322		8 October 1901	Rev W. Passmore, Wesleyan
531	8 October 1901	George Henry Stening Eva Louisa Tunnicliffe Whitlow	George Henry Stening Nora Louisa Tunnicliffe Whitlow 💍 1901/4706	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Teacher	30 27	Christchurch Christchurch	30 years 7 years	St. Michael's Church, Christchurch	01/5287		8 October 1901	Archd. Lufgard, Anglican
532	8 October 1901	William Dickstall Agnes Wilson	William Eichstadt Agnes Wilson 💍 1901/4748 William Olson Jun Janet Wilson 💍 1902/389	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	29 30	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 17 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/5175		8 October 1901	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Macfarlane
533	11 October 1901	James Faith Isabella Sarah Mauds	James Faith Isabella Jane Manks 💍 1901/5371	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	48 34	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 25 years	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch	01/5978		11 October 1901	Rev J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

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).