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 203

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1905 Registrar S. Wallace

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

17 April 1905

Augustus Clifford
Ruth Ellen Longuet

Augustus Clifford
Ruth Ellen Longuet
💍 1905/1179

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand

22
22

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

5 days
22 years

St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton

05/3590

17 April 1905

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	17 April 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Clifford	Ruth Ellen Longuet
	💍 1905/1179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	5 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton
Folio	05/3590
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

1 May 1905

Patrick Joseph Callaghan
Margaret Mary Bamford

Patrick Joseph Callaghan
Margaret Mary Bamford
💍 1905/715

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
30

Governors Bay
Governors Bay

4 days
30 years

The Catholic Church, Lyttelton

05/3043

1 May 1905

Rev. Patrick Coney, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	1 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Callaghan	Margaret Mary Bamford
	💍 1905/715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Governors Bay	Governors Bay
Length of Residence	4 days	30 years
Marriage Place	The Catholic Church, Lyttelton
Folio	05/3043
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Coney, Roman Catholic

3 May 1905

Thomas Francis Davis
Edith Radcliffe

Thomas Francis Serra
Edith Radcliffe
💍 1905/716

Bachelor
Spinster

Wharf Labourer

23
20

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

23 years
4 years

At the house of Mr. Geo. Radcliffe, London St., Lyttelton

05/3044

3 May 1905

Rev. William Lee, Wesleyan

No	17
Date of Notice	3 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Davis	Edith Radcliffe
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Francis Serra	Edith Radcliffe
	💍 1905/716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wharf Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	23 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr. Geo. Radcliffe, London St., Lyttelton
Folio	05/3044
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Lee, Wesleyan

4 May 1905

Robert Temple Brown
Lena McKinney

Robert Temple Brown
Helena McKinney
💍 1905/1969

Bachelor
Spinster

Prison Warder
Nurse

29
28

LYTTELTON
CHRISTCHURCH

7 months
1 week

At Knox Church Manse, Papanui, Christchurch

05/2963

4 May 1905

Rev. D. J. Steele, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	4 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Temple Brown	Lena McKinney
BDM Match (90%)	Robert Temple Brown	Helena McKinney
	💍 1905/1969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Prison Warder	Nurse
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	CHRISTCHURCH
Length of Residence	7 months	1 week
Marriage Place	At Knox Church Manse, Papanui, Christchurch
Folio	05/2963
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Steele, Presbyterian

29 May 1905

Willie John King
Frances Mary Dix

Willie John Pring
Frances Mary Dix
💍 1905/4572

Bachelor
Spinster

Wharf Labourer

26
26

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

5 months
26 years

St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton

05/7118

29 May 1905

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	29 May 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie John King	Frances Mary Dix
BDM Match (94%)	Willie John Pring	Frances Mary Dix
	💍 1905/4572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wharf Labourer
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	5 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton
Folio	05/7118
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

12 June 1905

James Leslie Dix
Rose Ann Hope

James Bertie Wise
Rose Ann Hope
💍 1905/1180

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Tailoress

27
26

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

14 days
26 years

St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton

05/3591

12 June 1905

Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	12 June 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Leslie Dix	Rose Ann Hope
BDM Match (82%)	James Bertie Wise	Rose Ann Hope
	💍 1905/1180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Tailoress
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	14 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church, Lyttelton
Folio	05/3591
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers, Anglican

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).