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 052

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

144

13 March 1905

Frederick Thomas Rainbow
Janet Caldwell

Frederick Thomas Rainbow
Janet Caldwell
💍 1905/5006

Widower
Divorced

Manufacturer
Tailoress

35
34

Sydenham
Sydenham

15 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

05/1027

13 March 1905

Registrar, Christchurch

No	144
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Rainbow	Janet Caldwell
	💍 1905/5006
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Manufacturer	Tailoress
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	15 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	05/1027
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

145

13 March 1905

William Ernest Moody
Alice O'Brien

William Ernest Moody
Alice O'Brien
💍 1905/6158

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

25
25

St. Albans
Christchurch

3 years
4 years

Papanui Methodist Church, Canterbury

05/1154

13 March 1905

Rev. C. E. Ward, Papanui Methodist

No	145
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Moody	Alice O'Brien
	💍 1905/6158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Papanui Methodist Church, Canterbury
Folio	05/1154
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward, Papanui Methodist

146

13 March 1905

Bertie Ellingford
Margaret Rosa Spinks

Bertie Ellingford
Margaret Rose Quinn
💍 1905/6157

Bachelor
Spinster

Collier
Advertising Agent

26
22

St. Albans
Christchurch

28 years
4 years

Papanui Methodist Church, Canterbury

05/1153

13 March 1905

Rev. C. E. Ward, Papanui Methodist

No	146
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Ellingford	Margaret Rosa Spinks
BDM Match (88%)	Bertie Ellingford	Margaret Rose Quinn
	💍 1905/6157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Collier	Advertising Agent
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Papanui Methodist Church, Canterbury
Folio	05/1153
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward, Papanui Methodist

147

13 March 1905

Henry Alfred Donovan
Florence Nelson

Henry Alfred Donovan
Florence Nelson
💍 1905/5007

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware
Variety Artist

26
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

26 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

05/1028

13 March 1905

Registrar, Christchurch

No	147
Date of Notice	13 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Donovan	Florence Nelson
	💍 1905/5007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware	Variety Artist
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	26 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	05/1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

148

14 March 1905

William Harvey Kohle
Mary Hindmarsh

William Harvey Noble
Mary Hindmarsh
💍 1905/684

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

27
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 months
6 months

Trinity Church, Christchurch

05/3013

14 March 1905

Rev. S. D. St. Clair, Congregationalist

No	148
Date of Notice	14 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harvey Kohle	Mary Hindmarsh
BDM Match (95%)	William Harvey Noble	Mary Hindmarsh
	💍 1905/684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Christchurch
Folio	05/3013
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. D. St. Clair, Congregationalist

149

15 March 1905

Cyril Henry Blake
Lilian Mary Johnston

Cyril Henry Bur Blake
Lilian Mary Johnston
💍 1905/6137

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

21
22

Sydenham
Sydenham

6 months
22 years

House of Mr. Johnston, Shakespeare Road, Sydenham

05/1132

15 March 1905

Rev. J. Orchard, Methodist

No	149
Date of Notice	15 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Henry Blake	Lilian Mary Johnston
BDM Match (91%)	Cyril Henry Bur Blake	Lilian Mary Johnston
	💍 1905/6137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Johnston, Shakespeare Road, Sydenham
Folio	05/1132
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Orchard, Methodist

150

16 March 1905

Charles Hanham
Mildred Ada Bodger

Charles Hanham
Mabel Ada Bodger
💍 1905/6087

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

25
22

Sydenham
Sydenham

25 years
22 years

St. Asaph Street, Christchurch

05/1102

16 March 1905

Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

No	150
Date of Notice	16 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hanham	Mildred Ada Bodger
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Hanham	Mabel Ada Bodger
	💍 1905/6087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Asaph Street, Christchurch
Folio	05/1102
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mackenzie, Presbyterian

151

16 March 1905

Arthur John Knight
Annie Heads

Arthur John Knight
Annie Heads
💍 1905/6151

Widower
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic

28
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
10 months

Mission Hall, Durham Street, Christchurch

05/1147

16 March 1905

Rev. R. D. Murray, Methodist

No	151
Date of Notice	16 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Knight	Annie Heads
	💍 1905/6151
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	10 months
Marriage Place	Mission Hall, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	05/1147
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. D. Murray, 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).