Intentions to Marry, 1902 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840422, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke and Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 and October 8, 2025.

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 487

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1902 Registrar Alexander Montgomery

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 May 1902

Walter McArthur
Ellen Victoria Meldrum Tombs

Walter McArthur
Ellen Victoria Mildred Tomlinson
💍 1902/4232

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Factory hand

20 years
20 years

Timaru
Timaru

20 years
20 years

Duthie's Office, Buchan & Russell Square, Timaru

02/4240

Ronald [illegible] father

25 May 1902

Rev. Samuel Buchanan, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	34
Date of Notice	24 May 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter McArthur	Ellen Victoria Meldrum Tombs
BDM Match (88%)	Walter McArthur	Ellen Victoria Mildred Tomlinson
	💍 1902/4232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Factory hand
Age	20 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Duthie's Office, Buchan & Russell Square, Timaru
Folio	02/4240
Consent	Ronald [illegible] father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel Buchanan, Primitive Methodist Minister

1 June 1902

William McNaughton
Rachel McClatchy

William McNaughton
Rachel McClatchy
💍 1902/4233

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

30 years
23 years

Timaru
Timaru

4 years
14 years

Duthie's Office, John McClatchy, John Bell, Timaru

02/4221

1 June 1902

Rev. S. Buchanan, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	35
Date of Notice	1 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McNaughton	Rachel McClatchy
	💍 1902/4233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	30 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Duthie's Office, John McClatchy, John Bell, Timaru
Folio	02/4221
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Buchanan, Primitive Methodist Minister

16 June 1902

Frederick Bacon
Martha Ann Bright

Frederick Saxon
Martha Ann Bright
💍 1902/3125

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent

24 years
20 years

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
20 years

Wesleyan Church, Timaru

02/4252

16 June 1902

Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

No	36
Date of Notice	16 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Bacon	Martha Ann Bright
BDM Match (93%)	Frederick Saxon	Martha Ann Bright
	💍 1902/3125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	24 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Timaru
Folio	02/4252
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

19 June 1902

Allan Raybould Dale
Kate Mildred Smith

Allan Raybutt Dale
Kate Mildred Smith
💍 1902/4503

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

24 years
23 years

Timaru
Timaru

24 years
10 years

Wesleyan Church, Timaru

02/4253

19 June 1902

Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

No	37
Date of Notice	19 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Raybould Dale	Kate Mildred Smith
BDM Match (92%)	Allan Raybutt Dale	Kate Mildred Smith
	💍 1902/4503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	24 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Timaru
Folio	02/4253
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Wesleyan Minister

20 June 1902

Joseph Richard Bryan
Eva May Dincen

Joseph Richard Bryan
Eva May Dineen
💍 1902/3119

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic Servant

24 years
18 years

Timaru
Timaru

12 months
18 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

02/4247

20 June 1902

Alexander Montgomery, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	20 June 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Richard Bryan	Eva May Dincen
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Richard Bryan	Eva May Dineen
	💍 1902/3119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic Servant
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	12 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	02/4247
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1902
Officiating Minister	Alexander Montgomery, 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 1903. 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).