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 266

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar L. C. Williams

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 February 1902

Edwin Elsom
Sarah Annie Reid

Edwin Elsom
Sarah Annie Reid
💍 1902/954

Bachelor
Spinster

Seedsman
Florist

29
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
5 years

St. Michael's Church

02/1007

24 February 1902

Rev. R. G. Averill, Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	24 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Elsom	Sarah Annie Reid
	💍 1902/954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seedsman	Florist
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	02/1007
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Averill, Anglican

26 February 1902

James Hawtin
Helen McIntyre

James Hawtin
Helen McIntyre
💍 1902/825

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Moulder

25
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. Anderson, Fire Brigade Station, Chester St.

02/1028

26 February 1902

Rev. St. Elmslie, Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	26 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hawtin	Helen McIntyre
	💍 1902/825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Moulder
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Anderson, Fire Brigade Station, Chester St.
Folio	02/1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. St. Elmslie, Presbyterian

27 February 1902

Richard Henry Wakelin
Charlotte Duff

Richard Henry Wakelin
Charlotte Nicole Duff
💍 1902/751

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Labourer
None

21
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 weeks
3 weeks

Registrar's Office

02/961

27 February 1902

Registrar, Christchurch

No	98
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Wakelin	Charlotte Duff
BDM Match (83%)	Richard Henry Wakelin	Charlotte Nicole Duff
	💍 1902/751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Labourer	None
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/961
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

27 February 1902

Richard James Eastwood
Beatrice Standring

Richard James Eastwood
Beatrice Standing
💍 1902/3484

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

24
22

Christchurch
St. Albans

21 years
22 years

St. Mary's Church

02/9607

27 February 1902

Rev. H. A. Watson, Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	27 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard James Eastwood	Beatrice Standring
BDM Match (97%)	Richard James Eastwood	Beatrice Standing
	💍 1902/3484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	21 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	02/9607
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Watson, Anglican

100

28 February 1902

Frank Mason Evans
Florence Caroline Brunsdon

Frank Mason Evans
Florence Caroline Brunsdon
💍 1902/816

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookbinder

28
26

Wellington
Christchurch

9 months
6 years

St. Michael's Church

02/1011

28 February 1902

Rev. R. G. Averill, Anglican

No	100
Date of Notice	28 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Mason Evans	Florence Caroline Brunsdon
	💍 1902/816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookbinder
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	02/1011
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Averill, Anglican

101

1 March 1902

George Rogers
Ellen Martin

George Rogers
Ellen Martin
💍 1902/955

George Jones
Hannah Martin
💍 1903/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Seamstress

29
28

Linwood
England (Ship 'Gothic')

9 months

St. Michael's Church

02/1008

1 March 1902

Rev. R. G. Averill, Anglican

No	101
Date of Notice	1 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rogers	Ellen Martin
	💍 1902/955
BDM Match (65%)	George Jones	Hannah Martin
	💍 1903/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Seamstress
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Linwood	England (Ship 'Gothic')
Length of Residence	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	02/1008
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Averill, Anglican

102

1 March 1902

Robert John Campbell
Emily Lines

Robert John Campbell
Emily Lines
💍 1902/868

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

25
22

Linwood
Linwood

14 years
4 years

House of Mrs. Rustridge, Selwyn St.

02/1078

1 March 1902

Rev. J. H. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	102
Date of Notice	1 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Campbell	Emily Lines
	💍 1902/868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Rustridge, Selwyn St.
Folio	02/1078
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Griffin, Wesleyan

103

3 March 1902

Arthur Albert Moody
Ivy May Webster

Arthur Albert Moody
Ivy May Webster
💍 1902/750

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

20
20

Christchurch
St. Albans

20 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

02/960

Jane Moody, mother of groom; Arundel Webster, father of bride

3 March 1902

Registrar of Marriages

No	103
Date of Notice	3 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Albert Moody	Ivy May Webster
	💍 1902/750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	St. Albans
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/960
Consent	Jane Moody, mother of groom; Arundel Webster, father of bride
Date of Certificate	3 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).