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 011

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

28 January 1905

Armstrong McCullough
Ellen Laura McBann

Armstrong McCullough
Ellen Jane McCann
💍 1905/6055

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolclasser
domestic duties

36
25

Timaru
Westerfield

6 years
23 years

In the dwelling of John McBann near Westerfield

05/993

28 January 1905

Rev. William Hain

No	6
Date of Notice	28 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Armstrong McCullough	Ellen Laura McBann
BDM Match (86%)	Armstrong McCullough	Ellen Jane McCann
	💍 1905/6055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolclasser	domestic duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Westerfield
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of John McBann near Westerfield
Folio	05/993
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Hain

30 January 1905

David Oliver Sewell, Junior
Clara Whiting

David Oliver Sewell
Clara Whiting
💍 1905/6273

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

29
18

Mayfield
Mayfield

15 years
4 years

Wesleyan Church at Mayfield

05/1251

William Whiting, father

31 January 1905

Rev. Harold Furchas B.A.

No	7
Date of Notice	30 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Oliver Sewell, Junior	Clara Whiting
BDM Match (85%)	David Oliver Sewell	Clara Whiting
	💍 1905/6273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church at Mayfield
Folio	05/1251
Consent	William Whiting, father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harold Furchas B.A.

30 January 1905

Edwin Esdaile Brown
Mary Hannah Mabel Kirby

Edwin Esdaile Brown
Mary Hannah Mabel Kirdy
💍 1905/6050

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
domestic duties

21
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

4 years
18 years

Registrar's Office, Ashburton

05/988

30 January 1905

N. W. White, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	30 January 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Esdaile Brown	Mary Hannah Mabel Kirby
BDM Match (98%)	Edwin Esdaile Brown	Mary Hannah Mabel Kirdy
	💍 1905/6050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	domestic duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Ashburton
Folio	05/988
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1905
Officiating Minister	N. W. White, Registrar

4 February 1905

Arthur Jeffery Blowes
Violet Louise Gurnell

Arthur Jeffery Clowes
Violet Louise Purnell
💍 1905/6522

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
domestic duties

30
26

Christchurch
Ashburton

3 years
22 years

St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton

05/1583

4 February 1905

Rev. Edwin Whitehouse

No	9
Date of Notice	4 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Jeffery Blowes	Violet Louise Gurnell
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Jeffery Clowes	Violet Louise Purnell
	💍 1905/6522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	05/1583
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edwin Whitehouse

4 February 1905

William Henry Thomas Robinson
Jane Rattray

William Henry Thomas Robinson
Jane Rattray
💍 1905/6057

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Tailoress

33
28

Ashburton
Trevorlon

30 years
28 years

Wesleyan Church, Baring Square, Ashburton

05/995

7 February 1905

Rev. Alfred Peters

No	10
Date of Notice	4 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Thomas Robinson	Jane Rattray
	💍 1905/6057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Tailoress
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Trevorlon
Length of Residence	30 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Baring Square, Ashburton
Folio	05/995
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters

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).