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 268

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

112

6 March 1902

Herbert Chapman Gibb
Helen Cunningham Gibb

Herbert Chapman
Helen Cunningham Gibb
💍 1902/595

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Teacher

28
32

Christchurch
Milton

2 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Milton, Otago

02/1473

6 March 1902

Rev. G. Miller, Presbyterian

No	112
Date of Notice	6 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Chapman Gibb	Helen Cunningham Gibb
BDM Match (88%)	Herbert Chapman	Helen Cunningham Gibb
	💍 1902/595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Teacher
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Milton
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Milton, Otago
Folio	02/1473
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Miller, Presbyterian

113

6 March 1902

Alfred Crawley Nabbs
Etta Harvey Townend

Alfred Crawley Stubbs
Etta Harvey Townsend
💍 1902/4271

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
22

Christchurch
Opawa

2 years
7 years

St. Marks, Opawa

02/1077

6 March 1902

Rev. C. S. Bean, Anglican

No	113
Date of Notice	6 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Crawley Nabbs	Etta Harvey Townend
BDM Match (90%)	Alfred Crawley Stubbs	Etta Harvey Townsend
	💍 1902/4271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Opawa
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks, Opawa
Folio	02/1077
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Bean, Anglican

114

7 March 1902

John Stuart Edward
Sarah Annie Lilley

John Stuart Edward
Sarah Annie Lilley
💍 1902/541

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
3 days

Anglican Church, Riccarton

02/1574

7 March 1902

Rev. I. R. Whitehead, Anglican

No	114
Date of Notice	7 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stuart Edward	Sarah Annie Lilley
	💍 1902/541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Riccarton
Folio	02/1574
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. R. Whitehead, Anglican

115

7 March 1902

Frank Albert Brayth
Florence Evelyn Rout

Frank Albert Drayton
Florence Evelyn Rout
💍 1902/832

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Builder
Teacher

32
30

Linwood
St. Albans

2 years
14 months

Knox Presbyterian Church

02/1034

7 March 1902

Rev. Dr. Erwin, Presbyterian

No	115
Date of Notice	7 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Albert Brayth	Florence Evelyn Rout
BDM Match (93%)	Frank Albert Drayton	Florence Evelyn Rout
	💍 1902/832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Builder	Teacher
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Linwood	St. Albans
Length of Residence	2 years	14 months
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church
Folio	02/1034
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Erwin, Presbyterian

116

10 March 1902

Joseph Samuel Kerr
Minnie Letitia Hawes

Joseph Samuel Kerr
Minnie Letitia Hancock
💍 1902/834

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

28
24

Sydenham
Sydenham

16 years
24 years

St. Michael's Church

02/1013

10 March 1902

Rev. A. G. Averill, Anglican

No	116
Date of Notice	10 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Samuel Kerr	Minnie Letitia Hawes
BDM Match (89%)	Joseph Samuel Kerr	Minnie Letitia Hancock
	💍 1902/834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	16 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	02/1013
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Averill, Anglican

117

11 March 1902

Louis Harris
Hannah Davis

Louis Morris
Hannah Davis
💍 1902/894

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothing Manufacturer

26
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
14 years

Synagogue

02/1104

11 March 1902

Rev. A. T. Chodowski, Hebrew

No	117
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Harris	Hannah Davis
BDM Match (92%)	Louis Morris	Hannah Davis
	💍 1902/894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothing Manufacturer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Synagogue
Folio	02/1104
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. Chodowski, Hebrew

118

11 March 1902

John Alexander Redpath
Clara May Bowen

John Alexander Redpath
Clara May Bowen
💍 1902/879

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Domestic

27
22

Linwood
St. Albans

14 years
10 years

Wesleyan Church, Durham St.

02/1064

11 March 1902

Rev. D. Baumber, Wesleyan

No	118
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Redpath	Clara May Bowen
	💍 1902/879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Linwood	St. Albans
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Durham St.
Folio	02/1064
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Baumber, Wesleyan

119

11 March 1902

George Augustus Fraser
Florence Jane Glanville

George Augustus Fraser
Florence Jane Glanville
💍 1902/904

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Teacher

25
26

Linwood
New Brighton

10 years
5 years

House of Mrs. Glanville, Wilson Street, New Brighton

02/1090

11 March 1902

Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

No	119
Date of Notice	11 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Augustus Fraser	Florence Jane Glanville
	💍 1902/904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Teacher
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Linwood	New Brighton
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Glanville, Wilson Street, New Brighton
Folio	02/1090
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North, Baptist

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).