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 347

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1902 Registrar A. 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

691

29 December 1902

Fredrick Henry Bacon
Adelaide Grace Cotton

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Saleswoman

26
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
24 years

Trinity Church, Christchurch

03/1003

29 December 1902

Rev. R. Campbell Vere, Anglican

No	691
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Henry Bacon	Adelaide Grace Cotton
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Saleswoman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Christchurch
Folio	03/1003
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Campbell Vere, Anglican

692

29 December 1902

Robert Gardner
Ellen Page

Robert Gardiner
Ellen Edith Page
💍 1902/5772

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Halswell
Linwood

18 years
24 years

St. Luke's Church, Woolston, Phillipstown

03/5686

29 December 1902

Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

No	692
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gardner	Ellen Page
BDM Match (78%)	Robert Gardiner	Ellen Edith Page
	💍 1902/5772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Halswell	Linwood
Length of Residence	18 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Woolston, Phillipstown
Folio	03/5686
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

693

29 December 1902

William Paris
Annie Elizabeth Gerard

William Kilpatrick
Annie Elizabeth Douch
💍 1902/3800

William Percy Allen
Annie Elizabeth Bielly
💍 1902/4205

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

21
18

Papanui
Riccarton

10 years
2 years

St. John's Church, Riccarton

03/5976

Edward Gerard, father

29 December 1902

Rev. G. C. Palmer, Wesleyan

No	693
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Paris	Annie Elizabeth Gerard
BDM Match (67%)	William Kilpatrick	Annie Elizabeth Douch
	💍 1902/3800
BDM Match (63%)	William Percy Allen	Annie Elizabeth Bielly
	💍 1902/4205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Riccarton
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Riccarton
Folio	03/5976
Consent	Edward Gerard, father
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Palmer, Wesleyan

694

29 December 1902

Albert Corrick
Catherine Grace Spackman

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

23
22

Christchurch
Riccarton

23 years
22 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

03/962

29 December 1902

Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

No	694
Date of Notice	29 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Corrick	Catherine Grace Spackman
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Riccarton
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	03/962
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor, Anglican

695

30 December 1902

William Edward Davies
Marion Frances Early

William Edward Jones
Marion Frances Early
💍 1902/5900

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Teacher

26
29

Lawrence
Linwood

3 years
1 year

St. Mary's Church, Lawrence

03/5758

30 December 1902

Rev. R. D. Murray, Wesleyan

No	695
Date of Notice	30 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Davies	Marion Frances Early
BDM Match (91%)	William Edward Jones	Marion Frances Early
	💍 1902/5900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Teacher
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Lawrence	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Lawrence
Folio	03/5758
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. D. Murray, Wesleyan

696

30 December 1902

Gustaf Albert Backhouse
Mary Ethel May Hansell

Gustaf Albert Schinkel
Mary Ethel May Hanwell
💍 1903/1928

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
24

Christchurch
Papanui

22 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church, Papanui

03/1465

30 December 1902

Rev. W. J. Gow, Presbyterian

No	696
Date of Notice	30 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustaf Albert Backhouse	Mary Ethel May Hansell
BDM Match (83%)	Gustaf Albert Schinkel	Mary Ethel May Hanwell
	💍 1903/1928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Papanui
Folio	03/1465
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Gow, Presbyterian

697

30 December 1902

James Wynn
Lilian May Devereux-Jones

James Wyn Irwin
Lilian May Devereux Jones
💍 1902/5769

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Teacher

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

19 years
23 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

03/5684

30 December 1902

Rev. R. H. Thorpe, Anglican

No	697
Date of Notice	30 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wynn	Lilian May Devereux-Jones
BDM Match (81%)	James Wyn Irwin	Lilian May Devereux Jones
	💍 1902/5769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Teacher
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	03/5684
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Thorpe, Anglican

698

30 December 1902

Henry Burrows
Mary Cicely Gallagher

Henry Burrows
Mary Cecily Gallagher
💍 1903/965

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
26

Halswell
Ellesmere

35 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch

03/1044

30 December 1902

Rev. R. H. Thomas, Roman Catholic

No	698
Date of Notice	30 December 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Burrows	Mary Cicely Gallagher
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Burrows	Mary Cecily Gallagher
	💍 1903/965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Halswell	Ellesmere
Length of Residence	35 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	03/1044
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Thomas, Roman Catholic

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).