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 254

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

1449

6 June 1904

Harry Francis Blackie
Jessie Elizabeth Gordon Cheyne

Harry Francis Blackie
Jessie Elizabeth Gordon Cheyne
💍 1904/1886

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Dressmaker

24
20

Ashburton
Allenton

4 days
18 Months

at the dwelling of William Richardson Allenton

04/2902

William Richardson, Uncle

6 June 1904

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	1449
Date of Notice	6 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Francis Blackie	Jessie Elizabeth Gordon Cheyne
	💍 1904/1886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	4 days	18 Months
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of William Richardson Allenton
Folio	04/2902
Consent	William Richardson, Uncle
Date of Certificate	6 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

1450

13 June 1904

William Joyce
Alice Betts

William Joyce
Alice Betts
💍 1904/1870

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

48
27

Trevorton
Trevorton

17 years
27 years

Church of England Ashburton

04/2909

13 June 1904

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	1450
Date of Notice	13 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joyce	Alice Betts
	💍 1904/1870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	48	27
Dwelling Place	Trevorton	Trevorton
Length of Residence	17 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	04/2909
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

1451

15 June 1904

John Emery Gleadow
Hilda Willis

John Emery Gleadow
Hilda Willis
💍 1904/1864

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic duties

29
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 days
12 years

at the house of Henry Willis Ashburton

04/2903

15 June 1904

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	1451
Date of Notice	15 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Emery Gleadow	Hilda Willis
	💍 1904/1864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	at the house of Henry Willis Ashburton
Folio	04/2903
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

1452

16 June 1904

Clarence Henry Bonnington
Annie Gale

Clarence Henry Bonnington
Annie Gale
💍 1904/1880

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder
Domestic duties

24
20

Tinwald
Ashburton

16 years
20 years

at the dwelling of Edwin Joseph Gale, Ashburton

04/2895

Edward Joseph Gale, Father

16 June 1904

Rev. Alfred Peters

No	1452
Date of Notice	16 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Henry Bonnington	Annie Gale
	💍 1904/1880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	at the dwelling of Edwin Joseph Gale, Ashburton
Folio	04/2895
Consent	Edward Joseph Gale, Father
Date of Certificate	16 June 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters

1453

23 June 1904

Arthur Oltery Pilbrow
Winifred Eleanor Purnell

Arthur Ottrey Pilbrow
Winnifred Eleanor Purnell
💍 1904/1871

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary
Domestic duties

26
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

5 years
20 years

Church of England Ashburton

04/2910

23 June 1904

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	1453
Date of Notice	23 June 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Oltery Pilbrow	Winifred Eleanor Purnell
BDM Match (91%)	Arthur Ottrey Pilbrow	Winnifred Eleanor Purnell
	💍 1904/1871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashburton
Folio	04/2910
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 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).