Intentions to Marry, 1906 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840432, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1906 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1906a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1906b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1906c).

Page 159

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar Lyonel Charles Williams

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

872

28 December 1906

Theodore Arthur John Singham
Ida Lillian Longmore

Theodore Arthur John Lingham
Ida Lillian Longmore
💍 1907/1366

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

30
31

Christchurch
S.S. Wimmera

3 years
10 days

St. Pauls, Christchurch

07/1447

28 December 1906

Rev. T. Taix, Anglican Presbyterian

No	872
Date of Notice	28 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Arthur John Singham	Ida Lillian Longmore
BDM Match (98%)	Theodore Arthur John Lingham	Ida Lillian Longmore
	💍 1907/1366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	S.S. Wimmera
Length of Residence	3 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Pauls, Christchurch
Folio	07/1447
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Taix, Anglican Presbyterian

873

28 December 1906

Edward Thomas Bickerstaffe
Agnes Hunter Coker

Edward Thomas Bickerstaffe
Agnes Hunter Coker
💍 1906/6847

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Laundress

25
23

St. Albans
Linwood

6 months
1 month

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

06/6842

28 December 1906

J. G. Williams, Registrar

No	873
Date of Notice	28 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Bickerstaffe	Agnes Hunter Coker
	💍 1906/6847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Laundress
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Linwood
Length of Residence	6 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	06/6842
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1906
Officiating Minister	J. G. Williams, Registrar

874

28 December 1906

Francis Lawson Smith
Agnes Helen Smith

Francis Lawson
Agnes Helen Smith
💍 1907/1345

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Dressmaker

40
34

Christchurch
Sydenham

1 week
12 months

House of Mrs. Smith, Scott Street, Sydenham

07/1450

28 December 1906

Rev. S. Thornton, Baptist

No	874
Date of Notice	28 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Lawson Smith	Agnes Helen Smith
BDM Match (85%)	Francis Lawson	Agnes Helen Smith
	💍 1907/1345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Dressmaker
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	1 week	12 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Smith, Scott Street, Sydenham
Folio	07/1450
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Thornton, Baptist

875

29 December 1906

Richard Hampton McConnell
Adeline Hannah McConnell

Richard Hampton
Adeline Hannah McConnell
💍 1907/1367

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

26
26

St. Albans
St. Albans

4 years
10 years

Wesleyan Church, Durham Street, Christchurch

07/1448

29 December 1906

Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

No	875
Date of Notice	29 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Hampton McConnell	Adeline Hannah McConnell
BDM Match (80%)	Richard Hampton	Adeline Hannah McConnell
	💍 1907/1367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Albans
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street, Christchurch
Folio	07/1448
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Baumber, Methodist

876

29 December 1906

Robert James Watson
Florence May Rickerby

Robert James Watson
Florence May Rickerby
💍 1907/1344

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
21

Halkett
Halswell

Life
Life

Anglican Church, Halkett

07/1449

29 December 1906

Rev. G. W. Russell, Anglican

No	876
Date of Notice	29 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Watson	Florence May Rickerby
	💍 1907/1344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Halkett	Halswell
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Halkett
Folio	07/1449
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Russell, 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 1908. 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).