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 255

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1904 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

1454

4 July 1904

George Henry Clarke
Annie Letitia Wilson

George Henry Clarke
Annie Letitia Wilson
💍 1904/331

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
32

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years
28 years

Church of England at Ashburton

04/5067

4 July 1904

Rev. E. C. Whitehouse

No	1454
Date of Notice	4 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Clarke	Annie Letitia Wilson
	💍 1904/331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	20 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Ashburton
Folio	04/5067
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Whitehouse

1455

11 July 1904

William Hastie
Elizabeth Margaret Gourdie

William Hastie
Elizabeth Margaret Gourdie
💍 1904/3045

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

31
24

Ashburton
Allenton

5 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Ashburton

04/4509

11 July 1904

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	1455
Date of Notice	11 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hastie	Elizabeth Margaret Gourdie
	💍 1904/3045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Ashburton
Folio	04/4509
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

1456

18 July 1904

James Reddington
Elizabeth Hitchings

James Reddington
Elizabeth Hitchings
💍 1904/3034

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer
Domestic duties

28
30

Ashburton
Ashburton

10 years
30 years

Mrs. Hitchings Residence Ashburton

04/4508

18 July 1904

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	1456
Date of Notice	18 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reddington	Elizabeth Hitchings
	💍 1904/3034
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	10 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Hitchings Residence Ashburton
Folio	04/4508
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

1457

25 July 1904

William Henry Chamberlin
Edith Kenny McClatchie

William Henry Chamberlain
Edith Kenny McClatchie
💍 1904/3052

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Domestic duties

23
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

1 year
16 years

All the dwelling of S. J. Linskey Ashburton

04/4510

Thomas Plaisted McClatchie, Father of the Bride

25 July 1904

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	1457
Date of Notice	25 July 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Chamberlin	Edith Kenny McClatchie
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Chamberlain	Edith Kenny McClatchie
	💍 1904/3052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 year	16 years
Marriage Place	All the dwelling of S. J. Linskey Ashburton
Folio	04/4510
Consent	Thomas Plaisted McClatchie, Father of the Bride
Date of Certificate	25 July 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

1458

1 August 1904

John Hampton
Ethel Maude Pocock

John Hampton
Ethel Maude Pocock
💍 1904/5196

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
24

Seafield
Westerfield

22 years
24 years

Registrars Office Ashburton

04/4507

1 August 1904

W. W. White, Registrar

No	1458
Date of Notice	1 August 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hampton	Ethel Maude Pocock
	💍 1904/5196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Seafield	Westerfield
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Ashburton
Folio	04/4507
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1904
Officiating Minister	W. W. White, Registrar

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).