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 434

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 December 1904 Registrar W. D. Wallace

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

1 October 1904

Arthur Thomas Penrose
Maria Buckley

Arthur Thomas Penrose
Maria Buckley
💍 1904/6409

Bachelor
Spinster

Green grocer
Domestic duties

22
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

18 months
24 years

at the home of Mr. William Taylor, Winchester, Lyttelton

04/6421

1 October 1904

Rev. W. Lee (Methodist)

No	36
Date of Notice	1 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Penrose	Maria Buckley
	💍 1904/6409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Green grocer	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	18 months	24 years
Marriage Place	at the home of Mr. William Taylor, Winchester, Lyttelton
Folio	04/6421
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lee (Methodist)

3 October 1904

Alfred Paul Westwood
Susie Baird

Alfred Paul Westwood
Susie Baird
💍 1904/6753

Andrew McClintock
Annie Baird
💍 1904/2145

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Waitress

33
27

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

12 months
2 years

at the Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

04/6921

3 October 1904

Rev. Patrick Corners (Roman Catholic)

No	37
Date of Notice	3 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Paul Westwood	Susie Baird
	💍 1904/6753
BDM Match (54%)	Andrew McClintock	Annie Baird
	💍 1904/2145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Waitress
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	at the Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	04/6921
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Corners (Roman Catholic)

6 October 1904

James Hendry
Bridget Roughan

James Hendry
Bridget Roughan
💍 1904/6754

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

33
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

7 days
18 months

at the Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton

04/6922

6 October 1904

Rev. P. Corners (Roman Catholic)

No	38
Date of Notice	6 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hendry	Bridget Roughan
	💍 1904/6754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	7 days	18 months
Marriage Place	at the Roman Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	04/6922
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Corners (Roman Catholic)

7 October 1904

Matthew Sillars
Mary Lynch

Matthew Sillars
Mary Lynch
💍 1904/6407

Bachelor
Spinster

Master mariner

26
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

7 days
1 day

at the Anglican Church, Lyttelton

04/6418

7 October 1904

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

No	39
Date of Notice	7 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Sillars	Mary Lynch
	💍 1904/6407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master mariner
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	7 days	1 day
Marriage Place	at the Anglican Church, Lyttelton
Folio	04/6418
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican)

7 October 1904

Garrett Stephen Burke
Ellen Ada Smith

Garrett Stephen Burke
Ellen Ada Smith
💍 1904/6406

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
25

Heathcote
Heathcote

3 days
3 weeks

at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

04/6417

7 October 1904

W. D. Wallace, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	7 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garrett Stephen Burke	Ellen Ada Smith
	💍 1904/6406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Heathcote	Heathcote
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio	04/6417
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1904
Officiating Minister	W. D. Wallace, Registrar

12 October 1904

George James
Annie Guy

George James
Annie Grey
💍 1904/6410

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
30

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
8 days

at the house of Mr. Arthur James, Brittle, Lyttelton

04/6422

12 October 1904

Rev. W. Lee (Methodist)

No	41
Date of Notice	12 October 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James	Annie Guy
BDM Match (90%)	George James	Annie Grey
	💍 1904/6410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	30
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr. Arthur James, Brittle, Lyttelton
Folio	04/6422
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lee (Methodist)

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).