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 230

District of Malvern Quarter ending 31 December 1906 Registrar A C Druman

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

25 September 1906

Harold Morrison Hunter
Winifred Ethel Bull

Harold Morrison Hunter
Winifred Ethel Bull
💍 1906/5566

Bachelor
Spinster

Estate Agent
Domestic duties

23
25

Waddington
Waddington

4 Years
25 Years

The Residence of Mr F Bull Waddington

25 September 1906

Rev. James Maxwell

No	13
Date of Notice	25 September 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Morrison Hunter	Winifred Ethel Bull
	💍 1906/5566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Estate Agent	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Waddington	Waddington
Length of Residence	4 Years	25 Years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr F Bull Waddington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 September 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell

13 November 1906

Arthur Leslie Nash
Mary Ann Vaughan

Arthur Leslie Nash
Mary Anne Vaughan
💍 1906/4691

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 Months
3 Years

Roman Catholic Church Darfield

06/7010

13 November 1906

Rev. P. Ahern

No	14
Date of Notice	13 November 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Leslie Nash	Mary Ann Vaughan
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Leslie Nash	Mary Anne Vaughan
	💍 1906/4691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 Months	3 Years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Darfield
Folio	06/7010
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ahern

1 December 1906

David Hussall
Ann Elliott Spencer

David Nuttall
Ann Elliott
💍 1906/4690

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic

33
33

Annat
Annat

7 weeks
7 weeks

Church of England Springfield

06/7009

1 December 1906

Rev. E. H. Chore

No	15
Date of Notice	1 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hussall	Ann Elliott Spencer
BDM Match (67%)	David Nuttall	Ann Elliott
	💍 1906/4690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Annat	Annat
Length of Residence	7 weeks	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Springfield
Folio	06/7009
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Chore

20 December 1906

William Edward Lambert
Ada Jane Holland

William Edward Lambert
Ada Jane Holland
💍 1907/4628

Bachelor
Spinster

Baptist Minister
Domestic

33
29

Greendale
Greendale

5 Years
10 Years

Baptist Church Greendale

06/7670

20 December 1906

Rev. R. S. Gray

No	16
Date of Notice	20 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Lambert	Ada Jane Holland
	💍 1907/4628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baptist Minister	Domestic
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Greendale	Greendale
Length of Residence	5 Years	10 Years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Greendale
Folio	06/7670
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Gray

31 December 1906

Albert John Beaufil
Ellen Campbell

Albert John Beanfill
Ellen Campbell
💍 1906/7459

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

37
29

Springfield
Springfield

4 days
29 Years

Residence of Mr Campbell Springfield

06/7544

31 December 1906

Rev. W. a. Kyd

No	17
Date of Notice	31 December 1906
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Beaufil	Ellen Campbell
BDM Match (95%)	Albert John Beanfill	Ellen Campbell
	💍 1906/7459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Springfield	Springfield
Length of Residence	4 days	29 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Campbell Springfield
Folio	06/7544
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1906
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. a. Kyd

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 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).