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 205

District of LYTTELTON Quarter ending 30 September 1905 Registrar W. 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

5 July 1905

Edward John Hills
Leah Crampton Longuet

Edward John Hills
Leah Crampton Longnet
💍 1905/2281

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
19

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

5 years
9 years

Holy Trinity Church

05/4779

Mr Phillips, father

5 July 1905

Rev. C. Coaks, Anglican

No	24
Date of Notice	5 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Hills	Leah Crampton Longuet
BDM Match (98%)	Edward John Hills	Leah Crampton Longnet
	💍 1905/2281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	05/4779
Consent	Mr Phillips, father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coaks, Anglican

17 July 1905

Robert Hutcheson
Mary Kathleen Elizabeth Mockler

Robert Hutcheson
Mary Kathleen Elizabeth Mockler
💍 1905/2280

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
21

Seddington
Seddington

18 months
12 months

At house of Rev. P. Cooney

05/4778

17 July 1905

Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	17 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hutcheson	Mary Kathleen Elizabeth Mockler
	💍 1905/2280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Seddington	Seddington
Length of Residence	18 months	12 months
Marriage Place	At house of Rev. P. Cooney
Folio	05/4778
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Cooney, Roman Catholic

22 July 1905

James Telfer
Jessie Briggs

James Telfer
Jessie Briggs
💍 1905/2282

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

26
19

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

14 days
19 years

At house of James Whitford, Hawkhurst Rd Lyttelton

05/4780

Andrew Briggs, father

22 July 1905

Rev. W. C. Wedderspoon, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	22 July 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Telfer	Jessie Briggs
	💍 1905/2282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	14 days	19 years
Marriage Place	At house of James Whitford, Hawkhurst Rd Lyttelton
Folio	05/4780
Consent	Andrew Briggs, father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wedderspoon, Presbyterian

28 August 1905

Joseph Bradbury
Emily Eva Hough

Joseph Bradbury
Emily Eva Hough
💍 1905/2234

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine-engineer

35
26

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

2 days
26 years

At the Methodist Church

05/4781

28 August 1905

Rev. W. Lee, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	28 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bradbury	Emily Eva Hough
	💍 1905/2234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine-engineer
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	2 days	26 years
Marriage Place	At the Methodist Church
Folio	05/4781
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lee, Methodist

30 August 1905

Robert Liddle
Elizabeth Valdis Welsh

Robert Liddle
Elizabeth Wylie Welsh
💍 1905/2235

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

27
25

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

14 days
2 days

At the house of George Voyce, Joyce Town Lyttelton

05/4782

30 August 1905

Rev. W. Lee, Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	30 August 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Liddle	Elizabeth Valdis Welsh
BDM Match (91%)	Robert Liddle	Elizabeth Wylie Welsh
	💍 1905/2235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	14 days	2 days
Marriage Place	At the house of George Voyce, Joyce Town Lyttelton
Folio	05/4782
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lee, Methodist

6 September 1905

John Ernest Bennett
Harriet Elizabeth Doidge

John Ernest Bennett
Harriet Elizabeth Doidge
💍 1905/2236

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
24

LYTTELTON
LYTTELTON

3 days
3 days

At the house of Frank Ching, Exch. St Lyttelton

05/4783

6 September 1905

Rev. E. O. Blamires, Wesleyan

No	29
Date of Notice	6 September 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Bennett	Harriet Elizabeth Doidge
	💍 1905/2236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON	LYTTELTON
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the house of Frank Ching, Exch. St Lyttelton
Folio	05/4783
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. O. Blamires, Wesleyan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).