Intentions to Marry, 1904 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840426, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 13 2025.

1904 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 027

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar Henry Arthur Jackman

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

4 January 1904

Sidney Edward Shaw
Margaret Daisy Kinsey

Sidney Edward Shaw
Margaret Daisy Kuisey
💍 1904/2930

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

34
20

Renwicktown
Marshlands

34 years
20 years

Church of England

04/912

George Edward Kinsey, Father

4 January 1904

Arch T S Grace

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Edward Shaw	Margaret Daisy Kinsey
BDM Match (95%)	Sidney Edward Shaw	Margaret Daisy Kuisey
	💍 1904/2930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Marshlands
Length of Residence	34 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	04/912
Consent	George Edward Kinsey, Father
Date of Certificate	4 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Arch T S Grace

9 January 1904

Herbert Hugh Pawson
Phoebe Horton

Herbert Hugh Pawson
Phoebe Horton
💍 1904/696

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
23 years

Church of England

04/1595

9 January 1904

Arch T S Grace

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hugh Pawson	Phoebe Horton
	💍 1904/696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	04/1595
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Arch T S Grace

25 January 1904

Alfred William Doel
Angel Millis Doreen

Alfred William Doel
Angel Millin Doreen
💍 1904/2927

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
19

Blenheim
Blenheim

21 years
4 months

Registrar of Marriages Office

04/909

Mary Manley, Mother

25 January 1904

H A Jackman

No	3
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Doel	Angel Millis Doreen
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred William Doel	Angel Millin Doreen
	💍 1904/2927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	21 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar of Marriages Office
Folio	04/909
Consent	Mary Manley, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 January 1904
Officiating Minister	H A Jackman

6 February 1904

Walter Taylor Evans
Ethel Mary Ann Hammond

Walter Taylor Esson
Ethel Mary Ann Hammond
💍 1904/2931

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

25
23

Blenheim
Fairhall

2 years
23 years

Residence of W H Hammond

04/913

6 February 1904

Rev G W J Spence

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Taylor Evans	Ethel Mary Ann Hammond
BDM Match (89%)	Walter Taylor Esson	Ethel Mary Ann Hammond
	💍 1904/2931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Fairhall
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W H Hammond
Folio	04/913
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev G W J Spence

6 February 1904

William Henry Phillips
Alice Rose Ellen Litchfield

William Henry Phillips
Alice Rose Ellen Litchfield
💍 1904/2909

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

7 weeks
23 years

Residence of W A Litchfield, Livermere

04/914

6 February 1904

Rev G W J Spence

No	5
Date of Notice	6 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Phillips	Alice Rose Ellen Litchfield
	💍 1904/2909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 weeks	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W A Litchfield, Livermere
Folio	04/914
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev G W J Spence

8 February 1904

Arthur Hirzel Carey
Annie Asquith Rayner

Arthur Hirzel Carey
Annie Asquith Rayner
💍 1904/697

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

29
34

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
3 years 6 months

Church of England

04/1596

8 February 1904

Rev. T J Smith

No	6
Date of Notice	8 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hirzel Carey	Annie Asquith Rayner
	💍 1904/697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years 6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	04/1596
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. T J Smith

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).