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 259

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1904 Registrar William Winskury 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

1466

28 October 1904

George Henry Carpenter
Annie Heasley

George Henry Carpenter
Annie Heasley
💍 1904/6187

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer
domestic duties

31
31

Willowby
Willowby

14 years
14 years

at the dwelling of James Heasley, Willowby

04/6192

28 October 1904

Rev. Thos. I. Wallis

No	1466
Date of Notice	28 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Carpenter	Annie Heasley
	💍 1904/6187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer	domestic duties
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Willowby	Willowby
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of James Heasley, Willowby
Folio	04/6192
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. I. Wallis

1467

31 October 1904

John Johnston McKay
Grace Bain

John Johnston McKay
Grace Bain
💍 1904/6203

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
domestic duties

23
21

Tinwald
Seddonville

4 days
7 days

at the dwelling of James Ross, Cameron Street, Ashburton

04/6201

31 October 1904

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	1467
Date of Notice	31 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Johnston McKay	Grace Bain
	💍 1904/6203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Seddonville
Length of Residence	4 days	7 days
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of James Ross, Cameron Street, Ashburton
Folio	04/6201
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

1468

14 November 1904

Albert William Mitchell
Mary Ann Elizabeth Goldicott

Albert Williams Mitchell
Mary Ann Elizabeth Coldicott
💍 1904/6188

Bachelor
Spinster

Pork Butcher
domestic duties

24
24

Ashburton
Trevorlon

9 years
24 years

Church of England, Ashburton

04/6193

14 November 1904

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	1468
Date of Notice	14 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Mitchell	Mary Ann Elizabeth Goldicott
BDM Match (96%)	Albert Williams Mitchell	Mary Ann Elizabeth Coldicott
	💍 1904/6188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pork Butcher	domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Trevorlon
Length of Residence	9 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	04/6193
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

1469

15 November 1904

Ernest Harry Childs
Amy Jane Hunt

Ernest Harry Childs
Amy Jane Hunt
💍 1904/6189

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
domestic duties

23
21

Ashburton
Hampstead

13 years
21 years

Church of England, Ashburton

04/6194

15 November 1904

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	1469
Date of Notice	15 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harry Childs	Amy Jane Hunt
	💍 1904/6189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Hampstead
Length of Residence	13 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	04/6194
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

1470

22 November 1904

Ernest Edward Clowes
Flavia Edith Hyde Gurnell

Ernest Edward Clowes
Flavia Edith Hyde Purnell
💍 1904/6190

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Gentlewoman

35
32

Dunedin
Ashburton

24 years

St. Stephens, Dunedin, Church of England

04/6195

22 November 1904

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	1470
Date of Notice	22 November 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Clowes	Flavia Edith Hyde Gurnell
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Edward Clowes	Flavia Edith Hyde Purnell
	💍 1904/6190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Gentlewoman
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Ashburton
Length of Residence		24 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens, Dunedin, Church of England
Folio	04/6195
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

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).