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 200

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar W D. 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

4 February 1905

Frank Sepord
Laura Minnie Lee

Frank Oxford
Laura Annie Lee
💍 1905/6243

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs-Officer

28
27

LYTTELTON.
LYTTELTON.

3 days
6 months

At the Wesleyan Parsonage Lyttelton

05/1190

4 February 1905

Rev. Wm Lee (Methodist)

No	7
Date of Notice	4 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Sepord	Laura Minnie Lee
BDM Match (81%)	Frank Oxford	Laura Annie Lee
	💍 1905/6243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs-Officer
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON.	LYTTELTON.
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Parsonage Lyttelton
Folio	05/1190
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Lee (Methodist)

6 February 1905

Henry Pidinghame Escher
Ann Elizabeth Loader

Henry Goldinghams Escher
Ann Elizabeth Loader
💍 1905/6191

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

31
26

LYTTELTON.
LYTTELTON.

3 days
7 days

At Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton

05/1186

6 February 1905

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

No	8
Date of Notice	6 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Pidinghame Escher	Ann Elizabeth Loader
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Goldinghams Escher	Ann Elizabeth Loader
	💍 1905/6191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON.	LYTTELTON.
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton
Folio	05/1186
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican)

15 February 1905

John Collins
Mary Parker

John Collins
Mary Parker
💍 1905/6186

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet-maker

39
26

LYTTELTON.
LYTTELTON.

3 days
3 weeks

At The Catholic Church Lyttelton

05/1181

16 February 1905

Rev. Patrick Cooney (Roman Catholic)

No	9
Date of Notice	15 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Collins	Mary Parker
	💍 1905/6186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON.	LYTTELTON.
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	At The Catholic Church Lyttelton
Folio	05/1181
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Cooney (Roman Catholic)

18 February 1905

James Walker Whitehouse
Jane Harley

James Walter Whitehouse
Jane Harley
💍 1905/6189

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

22
21

LYTTELTON.
LYTTELTON.

3 weeks
1 week

At St. Saviours Church Lyttelton

05/1184

18 February 1905

Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican).

No	10
Date of Notice	18 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walker Whitehouse	Jane Harley
BDM Match (98%)	James Walter Whitehouse	Jane Harley
	💍 1905/6189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON.	LYTTELTON.
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	At St. Saviours Church Lyttelton
Folio	05/1184
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Chambers (Anglican).

18 February 1905

Alexander George Reid
Mabel Florence Hillier

Alexander George Reid
Mabel Florence Hillier
💍 1905/6224

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

22
21

LYTTELTON.
LYTTELTON.

3 years
21 years

At Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton

05/1187

18 February 1905

Rev. C. Coates (Anglican).

No	11
Date of Notice	18 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander George Reid	Mabel Florence Hillier
	💍 1905/6224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON.	LYTTELTON.
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton
Folio	05/1187
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates (Anglican).

27 February 1905

William Thomas Swain
Emily Ann Tomson

William Thomas Swain
Emily Ann Tomson
💍 1905/6190

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Stewardess.

29
23

LYTTELTON.
LYTTELTON.

1 day
7 days.

At St. Saviours Church Lyttelton

05/1185

27 February 1905

Rev E. E. Chambers (Anglican).

No	12
Date of Notice	27 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Swain	Emily Ann Tomson
	💍 1905/6190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Stewardess.
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	LYTTELTON.	LYTTELTON.
Length of Residence	1 day	7 days.
Marriage Place	At St. Saviours Church Lyttelton
Folio	05/1185
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 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).