Intentions to Marry, 1905 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840429, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 010

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1905 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

7 January 1905

Thomas Clark
Catherine Paterson

Thomas Clark
Catherine Paterson
💍 1905/6054

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
domestic duties

30
20

Ashburton
Ashburton

30 years
20 years

In the dwelling of Llewellyn Williams, Hackthorn Road

05/992

Thomas Paterson, father of minor

7 January 1905

Rev. W. W. Harris

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Clark	Catherine Paterson
	💍 1905/6054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	domestic duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of Llewellyn Williams, Hackthorn Road
Folio	05/992
Consent	Thomas Paterson, father of minor
Date of Certificate	7 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Harris

9 January 1905

Montague Victor Ward Baker
Ethel Annie Childs

Montague Victor Ward Baker
Ethel Annie Childs
💍 1905/6521

Bachelor
Spinster

cabinet maker
domestic duties

25
25

Ashburton
Ashburton

25 years
25 years

St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

05/1582

9 January 1905

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague Victor Ward Baker	Ethel Annie Childs
	💍 1905/6521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cabinet maker	domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	05/1582
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

17 January 1905

Robert Burnett
Emma Margaret Bulmer

Robert Burnett
Emma Margaret Bulmer
💍 1905/6272

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Owner
Farmer

46
35

Winslow
Hinds

18 years
17 years

Church of England at Windermere

05/1250

17 January 1905

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	3
Date of Notice	17 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Burnett	Emma Margaret Bulmer
	💍 1905/6272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Owner	Farmer
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	Winslow	Hinds
Length of Residence	18 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Windermere
Folio	05/1250
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

24 January 1905

Donald Simpson
Elizabeth Ann Bayliss

Donald Simpson
Elizabeth Ann Bayliss
💍 1905/6052

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
domestic duties

27
21

Ashburton
Seafield

12 months
21 years

In the dwelling of James Bayliss at Charing Cross

05/990

24 January 1905

Rev. G. B. Inglis

No	4
Date of Notice	24 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Simpson	Elizabeth Ann Bayliss
	💍 1905/6052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Seafield
Length of Residence	12 months	21 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of James Bayliss at Charing Cross
Folio	05/990
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Inglis

25 January 1905

James Pollock
Nanny Clemens

James Pollock
Nanny Clemens
💍 1905/6056

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Confectioner

24
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

20 years
23 years

In the dwelling of James Pollock, Peter Street, Ashburton

05/994

25 January 1905

Rev. Alfred Peters

No	5
Date of Notice	25 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pollock	Nanny Clemens
	💍 1905/6056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Confectioner
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of James Pollock, Peter Street, Ashburton
Folio	05/994
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters

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).