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 398

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1902 Registrar William Stranaghan

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

6 January 1902

Edgar Weastell
Elizabeth Newton

Edgar Weastell
Elizabeth Newton
💍 1902/924

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29 years
25 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

29 years
25 years

St. Saviour's Church

02/1134

6 January 1902

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Weastell	Elizabeth Newton
	💍 1902/924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church
Folio	02/1134
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican Minister

14 January 1902

James Fairley
Edith Mabel Childs

James Fairley
Edith Mabel Childs
💍 1902/925

Bachelor
Spinster

Permanent Way Fitter

33 years
22 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 days
22 years

Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton

02/1135

14 January 1902

Rev. C. Coates, Anglican Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fairley	Edith Mabel Childs
	💍 1902/925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Permanent Way Fitter
Age	33 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton
Folio	02/1135
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates, Anglican Minister

10 February 1902

Nettarville Charles Barron
Sarah Ellen Worth

Netterville Charles Burron
Sarah Ellen Worth
💍 1902/923

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

33 years
26 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

1 year
6 days

St. Joseph's Church

02/1133

10 February 1902

Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nettarville Charles Barron	Sarah Ellen Worth
BDM Match (96%)	Netterville Charles Burron	Sarah Ellen Worth
	💍 1902/923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	33 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	1 year	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church
Folio	02/1133
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic Minister

25 February 1902

Campbell Ernest Brown
Etherlinda Burnip

Campbell Ernest Brown
Etherlinde Buring
💍 1902/2927

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Assistant

21 years
23 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

11 years
23 years

House of Mr. John Burnip, Lyttelton

02/2704

25 February 1902

Rev. A. H. Headwell, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	25 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Campbell Ernest Brown	Etherlinda Burnip
BDM Match (88%)	Campbell Ernest Brown	Etherlinde Buring
	💍 1902/2927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Assistant
Age	21 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	11 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. John Burnip, Lyttelton
Folio	02/2704
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Headwell, Presbyterian Minister

28 February 1902

Frederick William Botty
Mary Ann Tredennick

Frederick William Dobby
Mary Ann Frederick
💍 1902/926

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21 years
22 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

21 years
22 years

House of Mr. Tredennick

02/1136

28 February 1902

Rev. W. MacMurray, Wesleyan Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	28 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Botty	Mary Ann Tredennick
BDM Match (86%)	Frederick William Dobby	Mary Ann Frederick
	💍 1902/926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	21 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Tredennick
Folio	02/1136
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. MacMurray, Wesleyan Minister

20 March 1902

Robert Joseph Johnson
Margaret Ann Davis

Robert Joseph Johnson
Margaret Ann Davis
💍 1902/927

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35 years
34 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 days
1 year

House of Mr. H. R. Davis, Lyttelton

02/1137

20 March 1902

Rev. T. MacMeekan, Wesleyan Minister

No	6
Date of Notice	20 March 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Joseph Johnson	Margaret Ann Davis
	💍 1902/927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Mr. H. R. Davis, Lyttelton
Folio	02/1137
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. MacMeekan, Wesleyan Minister

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).