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 034

District of CHRISTCHURCH Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar LYONEL CHARLES WILLIAMS

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

4 January 1905

George Ernest Malzard
Elizabeth Maud Durham

George Ernest Malzard
Elizabeth Maude Graham
💍 1905/4982

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic

19
18

Linwood
Spreydon

2 weeks
3 months, Linwood

House of Mr. Maud, Cambridge Street Linwood

05/1061

The Consent of Father and Mother given

4 January 1905

Rev. S. A. Cole, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ernest Malzard	Elizabeth Maud Durham
BDM Match (91%)	George Ernest Malzard	Elizabeth Maude Graham
	💍 1905/4982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Spreydon
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 months, Linwood
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Maud, Cambridge Street Linwood
Folio	05/1061
Consent	The Consent of Father and Mother given
Date of Certificate	4 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. A. Cole, Anglican

4 January 1905

Herbert James Taylor
Ada Louise Hancock

Herbert James Taylor
Ada Louise Hancock
💍 1905/6134

Bachelor
Spinster

Domestic

21
21

Christchurch
Linwood

4 days
2 years

House of Mr. Hancock, Aldershot Road

05/1130

4 January 1905

Rev. J. Brears, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Taylor	Ada Louise Hancock
	💍 1905/6134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession		Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Linwood
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Hancock, Aldershot Road
Folio	05/1130
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Brears, Methodist

4 January 1905

John Perrie
Letitia Agnes Piper

John Perrin
Lettisia Agnes Piper
💍 1905/6156

Widower
Spinster

Painter
Housekeeper

50
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
6 months, Addington

St. Mary's Addington

not solemnized

4 January 1905

Rev. S. A. Beare, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	4 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Perrie	Letitia Agnes Piper
BDM Match (90%)	John Perrin	Lettisia Agnes Piper
	💍 1905/6156
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Housekeeper
Age	50	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months, Addington
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Addington
Folio	not solemnized
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. A. Beare, Anglican

4 January 1905

William John Hegg
Amelia Sapsford

William John Higgs
Amelia Jacques
💍 1905/4988

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 years
23 years

St. Michael's Church

05/1044

4 January 1905

Archdeacon Averill, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Hegg	Amelia Sapsford
BDM Match (71%)	William John Higgs	Amelia Jacques
	💍 1905/4988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church
Folio	05/1044
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Averill, Anglican

5 January 1905

Reginald Richard Goff Graham
Isabella Houston

Reginald Richard Croft Graham
Isabella Houston
💍 1905/6082

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer
Domestic

25
28

Sydenham
Christchurch

5 years
11 years

St. Luke's Church

05/1103

5 January 1905

Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	5 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Richard Goff Graham	Isabella Houston
BDM Match (95%)	Reginald Richard Croft Graham	Isabella Houston
	💍 1905/6082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer	Domestic
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio	05/1103
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

6 January 1905

Henry Frank Elliott
Kate Irene May Stephens

Henry Frank Elliott
Kate Irene May Stephens
💍 1905/6130

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

20
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

14 days
20 years

Methodist Church, Woolston

05/1126

Frank Scott, Father

6 January 1905

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	6 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frank Elliott	Kate Irene May Stephens
	💍 1905/6130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	14 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Woolston
Folio	05/1126
Consent	Frank Scott, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

7 January 1905

Franklin Collison Holtham
Ellen Miranda Fletcher

Franklin Collinson Hobson
Ellen Miranda Fletcher
💍 1905/6063

Bachelor
Spinster

Turner
Domestic

19
18

Linwood
Sydenham

19 years
6 years

Registrar's Office

05/1000

John Fletcher, Father

7 January 1905

Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	7 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franklin Collison Holtham	Ellen Miranda Fletcher
BDM Match (88%)	Franklin Collinson Hobson	Ellen Miranda Fletcher
	💍 1905/6063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turner	Domestic
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Sydenham
Length of Residence	19 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	05/1000
Consent	John Fletcher, Father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Registrar

779

31 December 1904

Charles William Mealeaster
Jane Frances Wilson

Charles William Muncaster
Jane Frances Wilson
💍 1905/6114

Bachelor
Spinster

20
21

New Brighton
Woolston

05/1084

19 January 1905

Rev. J. Tait, Presbyterian

No	779
Date of Notice	31 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Mealeaster	Jane Frances Wilson
BDM Match (92%)	Charles William Muncaster	Jane Frances Wilson
	💍 1905/6114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	New Brighton	Woolston
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	05/1084
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tait, Presbyterian

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).