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 235

District of Oxford Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar J. Leonard M. Downes

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

3 January 1905

George John Robert Proctor
Elsie Verna Cory

George John Robert Procter
Elsie Verena Cory
💍 1905/6233

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant
Domestic

22 years
21 years

Christchurch
Oxford

8 Months
10 years

St Andrews Church

05/1204

3 January 1905

Rev R F Garbett

No	23
Date of Notice	3 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Robert Proctor	Elsie Verna Cory
BDM Match (95%)	George John Robert Procter	Elsie Verena Cory
	💍 1905/6233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant	Domestic
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Oxford
Length of Residence	8 Months	10 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church
Folio	05/1204
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev R F Garbett

26 January 1905

James Wright Sawle
Jane Dallyn

James Wright Sawle
Jane Dallyn
💍 1905/6236

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

69 years
66 years

Palmerston North
Oxford

9 Months
6 Weeks

House of Jonathan Hill, Brother-in-law to Bride, View Hill, Oxford

05/1206

26 January 1905

Rev R P Keall

No	24
Date of Notice	26 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wright Sawle	Jane Dallyn
	💍 1905/6236
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	69 years	66 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Oxford
Length of Residence	9 Months	6 Weeks
Marriage Place	House of Jonathan Hill, Brother-in-law to Bride, View Hill, Oxford
Folio	05/1206
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev R P Keall

1 February 1905

Bertram Burn
Clara Josepha Lawson

Bertram Bunn
Clara Josephine Lassen
💍 1905/6234

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

20 years
21 years

View Hill
Braley

20 years
21 years

Baptist Church

05/1205

1 February 1905

Rev I Wagstaff

No	25
Date of Notice	1 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Burn	Clara Josepha Lawson
BDM Match (85%)	Bertram Bunn	Clara Josephine Lassen
	💍 1905/6234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	20 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	View Hill	Braley
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church
Folio	05/1205
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev I Wagstaff

22 February 1905

Arthur Joseph Debenham
Margaret McGrath

Arthur Joseph Debenham
Margaret McGrath
💍 1905/6237

Bachelor
Spinster

Packer
Domestic

22 years
23 years

Christchurch
Oxford

22 years
23 years

Catholic Church

05/1207

22 February 1905

Rev Father Hyland

No	26
Date of Notice	22 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Joseph Debenham	Margaret McGrath
	💍 1905/6237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Packer	Domestic
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Oxford
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	05/1207
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Hyland

27 February 1905

Albert John Harding
Agnes Rose Fisher

Albert John Harding
Agnes Rose Fisher
💍 1905/5718

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic

25 years
31 years

Eltham
Oxford

2 years
31 years

Church of England

05/1406

27 February 1905

Rev Mr Cowell

No	27
Date of Notice	27 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Harding	Agnes Rose Fisher
	💍 1905/5718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic
Age	25 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Oxford
Length of Residence	2 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	05/1406
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev Mr Cowell

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).