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 032

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 June 1901 Registrar W. Hawley

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
24	8 May 1901	Herbert Hazelton Ashridge Caroline Harriet Ashridge	Herbert Siggelkow Caroline Harriet Astridge 💍 1901/1907	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 18	Blenheim Blenheim	3 months 3 months	Registrar's Office Blenheim	01/2246	G. H. Ashridge, father	8 May 1901	W. Hawley, Registrar
25	14 May 1901	Charles Lionel Shrekland Wilma Silvius	Charles Lionel Strickland Hilma Silvius 💍 1901/1892	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	19 18	Blenheim Blenheim	19 years 10 years	Wesleyan Parsonage Blenheim	01/2254	H. B. Shrekland, father; H. Silvius, father	14 May 1901	Rev. G. W. Spence
26	1 June 1901	Gregory Ennis Thomas Harriett Florence Thomas	Gregory Onion Harriett Florence Thoms 💍 1901/1888	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 19	Springlands Blenheim	19 years 19 years	Roman Catholic Church Blenheim	01/2250	Eliz: Thomas, mother	1 June 1901	Rev. T. Fay
27	1 June 1901	Robert Joseph Logan Margaret Healy	Robert Joseph Logan Margaret Healy 💍 1901/1897	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	23 23	Blenheim Blenheim	23 years 23 years	Presbyterian Church Blenheim	01/2261		1 June 1901	Rev. W. U. Robb
28	6 June 1901	John Waugh Mary Hannah Smith	John Waugh Mary Hannah Smith 💍 1901/1908	Widower Spinster	Agent	46 29	Blenheim Blenheim	5 years 4 years	Registrar's Office Blenheim	00/2047		6 June 1901	W. Hawley, Registrar
29	8 June 1901	David Pirani Jane Frances Antoinette Watkins	David Pirani Jean Frances Antoinette Wickens 💍 1901/1899	Bachelor Widow	Journalist	38 25	Palmerston North Blenheim	3 days 3 weeks	House of Mr. J. J. Corry Blenheim	01/2262		8 June 1901	Rev. W. U. Robb
30	8 June 1901	Joseph Arthur Woosler Ellen Reardon	Joseph Arthur Wooster Ellen Reardon 💍 1901/1889	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Blenheim Blenheim	16 years 24 years	Roman Catholic Church Blenheim	01/2251		8 June 1901	Rev. L. C. Servajean
31	10 June 1901	Herbert Robert Watson Charlotte Watson	Herbert Robert McAulay Watson Charlotte Watson 💍 1901/1903	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 23	Kennington Kennington	10 years 23 years	Church of England Blenheim	01/2266		10 June 1901	Rev. J. de B. Salway
32	10 June 1901	William Watson Elizabeth Beal	William Watson Elizabeth Beal 💍 1901/1890	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	37 35	Blenheim Blenheim	25 years 15 years	House of Mr. E. Beal Blenheim	01/2252		10 June 1901	Rev. T. J. Smith
33	10 June 1901	Arthur David West Evangeline Hallett	Arthur David West Evangeline Gillett 💍 1901/1902	Bachelor Spinster	Meat Contractor	28 28	Blenheim Blenheim	18 years 10 years	Church of England Blenheim	01/2265		10 June 1901	Rev. J. de B. Salway
34	14 June 1901	Charles Frederick Hallett Kate Hatchell	Charles Frederick Gillett Kate Mitchell 💍 1901/5935	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	33 27	Blenheim Blenheim	13 years 22 years	Wesleyan Church Blenheim	01/2255		14 June 1901	Rev. G. W. Spence

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).