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 129

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1907 Registrar Sydney Blomfield

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	6 February 1907	William Herbert Laing Sarah Fields	William Robert Twigg Sarah Fieldes 💍 1901/434	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanical Engineer Domestic Duties	25 years 22 years	Collingwood Street, Nelson Cambria Street, Nelson	3 days 22 years	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson	07/753		6 February 1907	Rev. J. de B. Galway, Church of England
12	9 February 1907	Walter Hughes Judd Amy Edith Savage	Walter Hughes Judd Amy Edith Savage 💍 1901/416	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Founder Saleswoman	29 years 31 years	Hardy Street, Nelson Hardy Street, Nelson	6 days 31 years	Office of the Registrar, Nelson	07/750		9 February 1907	H. Calders, Registrar, Nelson
13	9 February 1907	Edward Bovey Annie Mary Dora Bovey Schward	Edward Bovey Annie Mary Dora Schwass 💍 1901/436	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 years 21	Stoke Stoke	3 years 21 years	Residence of John Bovey, Stoke	07/755	John Bovey, Stoke	9 February 1907	Rev. John Crump, Wesleyan Minister
14	12 February 1907	John Henry Read Agnes Leonora Net	John Henry Reed Agnes Leahnora Wet 💍 1901/427	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Domestic Duties	24 20	Wakefield Quay, Nelson Haven Road, Nelson	24 years 20 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	07/751	Anthony Net, Father	12 February 1907	H. Calders, Registrar, Nelson
15	23 February 1907	James Hawthorn Bright Sarah Ching	Ernest Cawthron Bright Sarah Ching 💍 1901/437	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Domestic Servant	25 28	Naimea Road, Nelson Stoke	3 days 28 years	Residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Ching, Stoke, Nelson	07/756		23 February 1907	Rev. Thos. G. Cearr, Wesleyan Minister
16	7 March 1907	Arthur Edward Taylor Edith Emma Hope	Arthru Edward Taylor Edith Emma Hope 💍 1901/433	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	29 20	Admiralty Bay French Pass	5 years 20 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Nelson	07/752	Harry Hamilton Hope, Father	7 March 1907	H. Calders, Registrar, Nelson
17	14 March 1907	William Henry Prebble Harriett Ada Hare	William Henry Prebble Harriett Ada Hare 💍 1901/418	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Cook	29 27	Tory Street, Nelson Cleveland Road, Nelson	18 months 2 years	Residence of Ernest George Stapp, Tory Street, Nelson	07/761		14 March 1907	Rev. R. S. Gray, Baptist Minister
18	29 March 1907	George Henry Holbrook Florence Clara Gibbs	George Henry Holbrook Florence Clara Gibbs 💍 1901/2679	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer's Assistant Domestic Duties	25 24	Brook Street, Nelson Nile Street, Nelson	26 years 24 years	Residence of the Bridegroom, Milton Street, Nelson	07/806		29 March 1907	Rev. J. S. Smalley, Wesleyan Minister
19	30 March 1907	James Sparcombe Annie Hill	James Lipscombe Annie Hill 💍 1901/1983	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Duties	41 26	Washington Valley, Nelson Haven Road, Nelson	41 years 15 years	Residence of Charles Hill, Haven Road, Nelson	07/807		30 March 1907	Rev. F. H. Chatterton, Church of England Minister

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).