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 062

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar C. 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

218

19 April 1905

George Joseph Cullen
Amy Jane Gibson

George Joseph Cullen
Annie Jane Gibson
💍 1905/1975

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

23
23

Springston
Halkett

3 Years
2 Years

Presbyterian Church

05/2950

13 April 1905

Rev. R. H. McCallum, Presbyterian

No	218
Date of Notice	19 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Joseph Cullen	Amy Jane Gibson
BDM Match (88%)	George Joseph Cullen	Annie Jane Gibson
	💍 1905/1975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Springston	Halkett
Length of Residence	3 Years	2 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	05/2950
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. McCallum, Presbyterian

219

19 April 1905

James Murphy
Henrietta Christina Israelsen

James Murphy
Henrietta Christina Israelsen
💍 1905/663

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman
Tailoress

24
27

Sydenham
Christchurch

4 Years
27 Years

Methodist Church, Durham St.

05/2992

13 April 1905

Rev. W. W. Rutherford, Methodist

No	219
Date of Notice	19 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Murphy	Henrietta Christina Israelsen
	💍 1905/663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman	Tailoress
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 Years	27 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Durham St.
Folio	05/2992
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Rutherford, Methodist

220

13 April 1905

Henry Joseph Sapes
Emma Amelia Lovell Prouting

Henry Joseph Gapes
Emma Amelia Lovell Prouting
💍 1905/607

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
24

St. Albans
Christchurch

27 Years
10 Years

St. Luke's Church

05/2911

13 April 1905

Rev. H. C. Worrall, Anglican

No	220
Date of Notice	13 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Joseph Sapes	Emma Amelia Lovell Prouting
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Joseph Gapes	Emma Amelia Lovell Prouting
	💍 1905/607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 Years	10 Years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio	05/2911
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. Worrall, Anglican

221

14 April 1905

Alfred Fielding Butterfield
Leigh Jane Radford

Alfred Fielding Butterfield
Sarah Jane Radford
💍 1905/1983

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Tailoress

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 Days
3 Days

St. Paul's Church

05/2953

14 April 1905

Rev. J. Tait, Presbyterian

No	221
Date of Notice	14 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Fielding Butterfield	Leigh Jane Radford
BDM Match (89%)	Alfred Fielding Butterfield	Sarah Jane Radford
	💍 1905/1983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Tailoress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	05/2953
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tait, Presbyterian

222

14 April 1905

James Rickerby
Mary Ann Ridden

James Rickerly
Mary Ann Ridden
💍 1905/611

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
18

Lincoln
Lincoln

2 Years
12 Months

Anglican Church

05/2915

Mother

14 April 1905

Rev. J. J. Smyth, Anglican

No	222
Date of Notice	14 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rickerby	Mary Ann Ridden
BDM Match (96%)	James Rickerly	Mary Ann Ridden
	💍 1905/611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Lincoln	Lincoln
Length of Residence	2 Years	12 Months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	05/2915
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	14 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Smyth, Anglican

223

14 April 1905

Albert Thornton Muir
Florence Edith Ann Brown

Albert Thornton Muir
Florence Edith Ann Brown
💍 1905/7142

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

22
19

Greymouth
Hornby

17 Years
7 Years

Registrar's Office

05/2997

Father

14 April 1905

Registrar, Christchurch

No	223
Date of Notice	14 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Thornton Muir	Florence Edith Ann Brown
	💍 1905/7142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Hornby
Length of Residence	17 Years	7 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	05/2997
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Christchurch

224

14 April 1905

William Robert Leech
Flora Edith Willyams

William Robert Leech
Flora Edith Willyams
💍 1905/1966

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Dressmaker

31
24

Woolston
Sydenham

6 Years
5 Years

St. Peter's Church

05/2959

14 April 1905

Rev. T. H. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	224
Date of Notice	14 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Leech	Flora Edith Willyams
	💍 1905/1966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Dressmaker
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Sydenham
Length of Residence	6 Years	5 Years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	05/2959
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. McDonald, Presbyterian

225

15 April 1905

Frederick Le Ray Ozanne
Madeline Frances Stephens

Frederick Le Roy Ozanne
Madelina Francy Stephens
💍 1905/319

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
22

Woolston
Woolston

9 Years
9 Years

House of Mrs. Stephens, Parkes Street

05/3578

15 April 1905

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	225
Date of Notice	15 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Le Ray Ozanne	Madeline Frances Stephens
BDM Match (92%)	Frederick Le Roy Ozanne	Madelina Francy Stephens
	💍 1905/319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Woolston	Woolston
Length of Residence	9 Years	9 Years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Stephens, Parkes Street
Folio	05/3578
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, 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).