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 331

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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

563

4 November 1902

Edward Allernon Taylor
Evelyne Lucy Catherine Dommley

Edward Algernon Tayler
Evelyne Catharine Lucy Donnelly
💍 1902/5616

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

29
27

Sydenham
St Albans

27 years
27 years

Wesleyan Church, Durham St

02/5772

4 November 1902

Rev. G. Baumber, Wesleyan

No	563
Date of Notice	4 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Allernon Taylor	Evelyne Lucy Catherine Dommley
BDM Match (71%)	Edward Algernon Tayler	Evelyne Catharine Lucy Donnelly
	💍 1902/5616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	St Albans
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Durham St
Folio	02/5772
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Baumber, Wesleyan

564

4 November 1902

Herbert Hallett Gardner
Margaret Thursa Wilkinson

Herbert Halketh Gardner
Margaret Thomson Wilkinson
💍 1902/5807

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
20 years

House of Mrs Wilkinson, Holywood Rd

02/5698

4 November 1902

Rev. G. Erwice, Presbyterian

No	564
Date of Notice	4 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hallett Gardner	Margaret Thursa Wilkinson
BDM Match (88%)	Herbert Halketh Gardner	Margaret Thomson Wilkinson
	💍 1902/5807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Wilkinson, Holywood Rd
Folio	02/5698
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Erwice, Presbyterian

565

4 November 1902

George Hutton Cook
Philippa Martin Rowell

George Herbert Cook
Philippa Martin Rowell
💍 1902/5779

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
26

Springburn
Springburn

20 years
26 years

St Mary's

02/5670

4 November 1902

Rev. H. Nicol, Anglican

No	565
Date of Notice	4 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hutton Cook	Philippa Martin Rowell
BDM Match (84%)	George Herbert Cook	Philippa Martin Rowell
	💍 1902/5779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Springburn	Springburn
Length of Residence	20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's
Folio	02/5670
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Nicol, Anglican

566

4 November 1902

Malcolm Stewart Allan
Mary Youngs Spinks

Malcolm Stewart Allan
Mary Youngs
💍 1902/5499

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

25
21

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 days
6 months

House of Mr Humphreys, Coleridge St

02/5728

4 November 1902

Rev. W. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	566
Date of Notice	4 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Stewart Allan	Mary Youngs Spinks
BDM Match (81%)	Malcolm Stewart Allan	Mary Youngs
	💍 1902/5499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr Humphreys, Coleridge St
Folio	02/5728
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Simpson, Presbyterian

567

5 November 1902

Norman Stanley Turner
Eva Revelle Spinks

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

21
31

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
3 days

House of Miss Lippiatt, Worcester St

02/6047

5 November 1902

Rev. W. J. Soro, Presbyterian

No	567
Date of Notice	5 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Stanley Turner	Eva Revelle Spinks
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	21	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Miss Lippiatt, Worcester St
Folio	02/6047
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Soro, Presbyterian

568

5 November 1902

George Edward Lilley
Emma Elizabeth Coulton

George Edward Lilley
Emma Elizabeth Coulter
💍 1902/5434

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

26
19

Christchurch
Woolston

3 months
19 years

Registrar's Office

02/5616

R. E. Coulton, Mother

20 November 1902

Registrar, Christchurch

No	568
Date of Notice	5 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Lilley	Emma Elizabeth Coulton
BDM Match (95%)	George Edward Lilley	Emma Elizabeth Coulter
	💍 1902/5434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Woolston
Length of Residence	3 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	02/5616
Consent	R. E. Coulton, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

569

5 November 1902

Frank Watson Cox
Helena Rose Cox

Frank Watson
Helena Rose Cox
💍 1902/5897

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Saleswoman

29
23

Sydenham
Sydenham

3 years
2 years

Wesleyan Mission Hall, Durham St

02/5755

Harry Cox, Father

5 November 1902

Rev. R. I. Murray, Methodist

No	569
Date of Notice	5 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Watson Cox	Helena Rose Cox
BDM Match (88%)	Frank Watson	Helena Rose Cox
	💍 1902/5897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Saleswoman
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Mission Hall, Durham St
Folio	02/5755
Consent	Harry Cox, Father
Date of Certificate	5 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. I. Murray, Methodist

570

5 November 1902

Henry Lucas Pearson
Grace Hodgson Spinks

Harry Lucas Pearson
Grace Hodgson
💍 1902/5776

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

26
30

Springburn
Paparua

26 years
20 years

St Paul's, Paparua

02/5690

5 November 1902

Rev. J. Campbell, Anglican

No	570
Date of Notice	5 November 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lucas Pearson	Grace Hodgson Spinks
BDM Match (77%)	Harry Lucas Pearson	Grace Hodgson
	💍 1902/5776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Springburn	Paparua
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's, Paparua
Folio	02/5690
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Campbell, Anglican

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).