Intentions to Marry, 1903 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840424, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 10 2025.

1903 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 264

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1903 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

21 February 1903

Thomas Davis
Ellen Warrington

Thomas Davis
Ellen Warrington
💍 1903/1071

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker
Domestic

34
21

Linwood
Sydenham

34 years
10 years

Methodist Church, Papanui Road

03/1061

21 February 1903

Rev. R. W. Lee, Methodist

No	96
Date of Notice	21 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Davis	Ellen Warrington
	💍 1903/1071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker	Domestic
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	34 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Papanui Road
Folio	03/1061
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. W. Lee, Methodist

21 February 1903

Charles Read
Sarah Bamford

Charles Read
Janet Bamford
💍 1903/1682

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

31
23

Opawa
Christchurch

6 months
4 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

03/934

21 February 1903

Registrar, Christchurch

No	97
Date of Notice	21 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Read	Sarah Bamford
BDM Match (85%)	Charles Read	Janet Bamford
	💍 1903/1682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Opawa	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	03/934
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

21 February 1903

Ernest John Chapple
Ethel Toulyn Booth

Ernest John Chapple
Etty Tomlyn Moody
💍 1903/1121

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

24
23

St Albans
St Albans

24 years
2 weeks

Anglican Church, Papanui

03/1443

21 February 1903

Rev. J. Campbell, Anglican

No	98
Date of Notice	21 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Chapple	Ethel Toulyn Booth
BDM Match (81%)	Ernest John Chapple	Etty Tomlyn Moody
	💍 1903/1121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	St Albans	St Albans
Length of Residence	24 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Papanui
Folio	03/1443
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Campbell, Anglican

28 February 1903

George Arthur Frampton
Fanny Augusta Tolislager

George Arthur Frampton
Fanny Augustina Olislager
💍 1903/1723

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

26
25

Christchurch
Linwood

3 days
23 years

Church of Good Shepherd, Phillipstown

03/1009

23 February 1903

Rev. H. E. Ruscoe, Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	28 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Frampton	Fanny Augusta Tolislager
BDM Match (92%)	George Arthur Frampton	Fanny Augustina Olislager
	💍 1903/1723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of Good Shepherd, Phillipstown
Folio	03/1009
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ruscoe, Anglican

100

23 February 1903

Arthur George Boardman
Florence Marshall Brown

Arthur George Boardman
Florence Marshall Brown
💍 1903/1683

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

42
25

Christchurch
Linwood

15 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

03/935

23 February 1903

Registrar, Christchurch

No	100
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Boardman	Florence Marshall Brown
	💍 1903/1683
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	42	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	15 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	03/935
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

101

23 February 1903

Claude Reginald Mason
Sarah Kerr

Claude Reginald Mason
Sarah Kerr
💍 1903/918

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

21
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
12 years

St Mary's Church, Addington

03/975

Edward Kerr, father

23 February 1903

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	101
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Reginald Mason	Sarah Kerr
	💍 1903/918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	03/975
Consent	Edward Kerr, father
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

102

23 February 1903

Charles Jesson
Minnie Allen

Charles Edmund Sisson
Minnie Rose Allen
💍 1903/916

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower
Domestic

27
25

Papanui
St Albans

27 years
23 years

St Matthew's Church, St Albans

03/992

23 February 1903

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	102
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Jesson	Minnie Allen
BDM Match (64%)	Charles Edmund Sisson	Minnie Rose Allen
	💍 1903/916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower	Domestic
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Papanui	St Albans
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, St Albans
Folio	03/992
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

103

24 February 1903

Roddeswood Comport Bishop
Annie Cunningham

Rookwood Comport Bishop
Annie Cunningham
💍 1903/923

Widower
Widow

Secretary, San. Co.

55
46

Christchurch
Christchurch

52 years
46 years

St Mary's Church, Addington

03/976

24 February 1903

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	103
Date of Notice	24 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roddeswood Comport Bishop	Annie Cunningham
BDM Match (92%)	Rookwood Comport Bishop	Annie Cunningham
	💍 1903/923
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Secretary, San. Co.
Age	55	46
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	52 years	46 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	03/976
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, 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).