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 013

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 1905 Registrar William Winsbury White

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

11 March 1905

John Thomas Cooper
Selina Protheroe

John Thomas Cooper
Selina Protheros
💍 1905/6059

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
domestic duties

26
22

Allenton
Elgin

26 years
10 years

Wesleyan Church Baring Square Ashburton

05/997

11 March 1905

Rev. Alfred Peters

No	15
Date of Notice	11 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Cooper	Selina Protheroe
BDM Match (97%)	John Thomas Cooper	Selina Protheros
	💍 1905/6059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Allenton	Elgin
Length of Residence	26 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Baring Square Ashburton
Folio	05/997
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters

18 March 1905

Gerald Boucher Nanson
Florence Gertrude Bell

Gerald Boucher Nanson
Florence Gertrude Bell
💍 1905/6524

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders
Telephone Cadette

38
29

Warrington Otago
Ashburton

6 months
29 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

05/1585

18 March 1905

Rev Edwin Whitehouse

No	16
Date of Notice	18 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Boucher Nanson	Florence Gertrude Bell
	💍 1905/6524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders	Telephone Cadette
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Warrington Otago	Ashburton
Length of Residence	6 months	29 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	05/1585
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev Edwin Whitehouse

18 March 1905

Llewellyn Owen
Phoebe Kate Prouse Bell

Llewellyn Owen
Phoebe Kate Prouse Bell
💍 1905/6525

Bachelor
Spinster

Music Master
domestic duties

34
23

Ashburton
Ashburton

15 years
23 years

St Stephens Church of England Ashburton

05/1586

18 March 1905

Rev Edwin Whitehouse

No	17
Date of Notice	18 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Owen	Phoebe Kate Prouse Bell
	💍 1905/6525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Music Master	domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	15 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England Ashburton
Folio	05/1586
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev Edwin Whitehouse

21 March 1905

Arthur John Parish
Hilda Edith Read

Arthur John Parish
Hilda Edith Read
💍 1905/6526

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

23
17

Waterton
Waterton

23 years
17 years

Church of England at Waterton

05/1587

Isaac Read, Father

21 March 1905

Rev. E. N. Blakiston

No	18
Date of Notice	21 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Parish	Hilda Edith Read
	💍 1905/6526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Waterton
Length of Residence	23 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Waterton
Folio	05/1587
Consent	Isaac Read, Father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. N. Blakiston

21 March 1905

William Cossar
Janet Campbell

William Cossar
Janet Campbell
💍 1905/6520

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

34
37

Christchurch
Tinwald

2 years
2 years

In the house of Robert Campbell at Tinwald

05/1581

21 March 1905

Rev J. C. Paterson M.A.

No	19
Date of Notice	21 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cossar	Janet Campbell
	💍 1905/6520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	34	37
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Tinwald
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Robert Campbell at Tinwald
Folio	05/1581
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev J. C. Paterson M.A.

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).