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 269

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar S. C. Reevell

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

120

11 March 1902

Harry Wilkin Stringer
Alice Maud Lee

Harry Wilkin Stringer
Alice Maud Gee
💍 1902/837

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

35
28

Linwood
Linwood

35 years
17 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

02/1016

11 March 1902

Rev. F. A. Purchas, Anglican

No	120
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Wilkin Stringer	Alice Maud Lee
BDM Match (96%)	Harry Wilkin Stringer	Alice Maud Gee
	💍 1902/837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	35 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	02/1016
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Purchas, Anglican

121

11 March 1902

John Puddle
Alice Dempsey

John Puddle
Alice Dempsey
💍 1902/891

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
22

Papanui
Addington

27 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Brougham St, Addington

02/1101

11 March 1902

Rev. T. Mawson, Church of Christ

No	121
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Puddle	Alice Dempsey
	💍 1902/891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Addington
Length of Residence	27 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brougham St, Addington
Folio	02/1101
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Mawson, Church of Christ

122

11 March 1902

Charles Watson
Rubina Conlan

Charles Watson
Rubina Conlan
💍 1902/826

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

26
21

Addington
St. Albans

8 months
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Lichfield St, Christchurch

02/1029

11 March 1902

Rev. R. S. M. Leslie, Presbyterian

No	122
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Watson	Rubina Conlan
	💍 1902/826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Addington	St. Albans
Length of Residence	8 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lichfield St, Christchurch
Folio	02/1029
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. M. Leslie, Presbyterian

123

12 March 1902

Harry Lloyd
Louisa Emily Hyde

Harry Lloyd
Louisa Emily Hyde
💍 1902/942

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Machinist

24
22

Christchurch
St. Albans

5 days
14 years

St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans

02/994

12 March 1902

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	123
Date of Notice	12 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Lloyd	Louisa Emily Hyde
	💍 1902/942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Machinist
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	5 days	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans
Folio	02/994
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

124

12 March 1902

Vernon Bedwell
Mary Jane Philpott

Vernon Bedwell
Mary Jane Philpott
💍 1902/3060

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
30

St. Albans
St. Albans

3 years
30 years

Wesleyan Church, St. Albans

02/639

12 March 1902

Rev. W. G. Parsonson, Wesleyan

No	124
Date of Notice	12 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Bedwell	Mary Jane Philpott
	💍 1902/3060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	3 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, St. Albans
Folio	02/639
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Parsonson, Wesleyan

125

13 March 1902

Henry Barwick
Ida Ingaberg Shepherd

Henry Barrick
Ida Ingaberg Shepherd
💍 1902/1074

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

02/987

13 March 1902

Rev. S. Fielding, Anglican

No	125
Date of Notice	13 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Barwick	Ida Ingaberg Shepherd
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Barrick	Ida Ingaberg Shepherd
	💍 1902/1074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	02/987
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Fielding, Anglican

126

13 March 1902

Jesse Wilson
Selina Hanagan

Jesse Wilson
Selina Flanagan
💍 1902/755

Widower
Widow

55
62

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
5 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

02/964

13 March 1902

Registrar of Marriages, Christchurch

No	126
Date of Notice	13 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Wilson	Selina Hanagan
BDM Match (93%)	Jesse Wilson	Selina Flanagan
	💍 1902/755
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession
Age	55	62
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	02/964
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Christchurch

127

14 March 1902

Edward John Kent
Alice Gertrude Graham

Edward John Burt
Alice Gertrude Graham
💍 1902/2093

Bachelor
Widow

Chemist

25
27

Linwood
Linwood

1 year
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Matheson Road, Linwood

02/1043

14 March 1902

Rev. W. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	127
Date of Notice	14 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Kent	Alice Gertrude Graham
BDM Match (91%)	Edward John Burt	Alice Gertrude Graham
	💍 1902/2093
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Chemist
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Matheson Road, Linwood
Folio	02/1043
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Simpson, 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 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).