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 018

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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

20 April 1905

Francis Spargoe Nicholls
Edith Summers

Francis Spargor Nicholls
Edith Sumners
💍 1905/2190

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
domestic duties

51
20

Hampstead
Hampstead

2 years
20 years

St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton

05/4595

William Summers, father of minor

20 April 1905

Rev. E. Whitehouse

No	31
Date of Notice	20 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Spargoe Nicholls	Edith Summers
BDM Match (94%)	Francis Spargor Nicholls	Edith Sumners
	💍 1905/2190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	domestic duties
Age	51	20
Dwelling Place	Hampstead	Hampstead
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	05/4595
Consent	William Summers, father of minor
Date of Certificate	20 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Whitehouse

26 April 1905

Thomas Hunt
Margaret Ann Lovett

Thomas Hunt
Margarett Ann Lovett
💍 1905/7140

Widower
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

35
56

Ashburton
Windermere

20 years
26 years

In the dwelling of Charles Thomas Hopkins, Wakanui Road, Hampstead

05/0787

26 April 1905

Rev. W. L. Salter

No	32
Date of Notice	26 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hunt	Margaret Ann Lovett
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Hunt	Margarett Ann Lovett
	💍 1905/7140
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	35	56
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Windermere
Length of Residence	20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of Charles Thomas Hopkins, Wakanui Road, Hampstead
Folio	05/0787
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. L. Salter

5 May 1905

Alfred John Millichamp
Margaret Finlayson

Alfred John Millichamp
Margaret Finlayson
💍 1905/324

Bachelor
Spinster

Nurseryman
domestic duties

25
23

Tinwald
Tinwald

16 years
3 years

Church of England at Tinwald

05/3582

5 May 1905

Rev. E. R. Blakiston

No	33
Date of Notice	5 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Millichamp	Margaret Finlayson
	💍 1905/324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Tinwald
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Tinwald
Folio	05/3582
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Blakiston

8 May 1905

George Joseph Wallace Anderson
Christina Gertrude Taylor

George Joseph Wallace Anderson
Christina Gertrude Taylor
💍 1905/7198

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

30
23

Flemington
Flemington

20 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Flemington

05/2780

8 May 1905

Rev. J. B. Paterson, M.A.

No	34
Date of Notice	8 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joseph Wallace Anderson	Christina Gertrude Taylor
	💍 1905/7198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Flemington	Flemington
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Flemington
Folio	05/2780
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Paterson, M.A.

13 May 1905

Charles Whiting
Elizabeth Annie Sewell

Charles Whiting
Elizabeth Annie Sewell
💍 1905/812

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

21
21

Mayfield
Ruapuna

7 years
12 years

Town Hall at Ruapuna

05/3143

13 May 1905

Rev. Harold Purchas, B.A.

No	35
Date of Notice	13 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Whiting	Elizabeth Annie Sewell
	💍 1905/812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Ruapuna
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Town Hall at Ruapuna
Folio	05/3143
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harold Purchas, B.A.

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).