Intentions to Marry, 1907 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840435, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1907 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1907a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1907b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1907c).

Page 039

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1907 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

22 January 1907

Thomas Abbott Joynt
Frances Boyd

Thomas Abbott Joynt
Frances Boyd
💍 1907/1059

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Clerk

45
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

45 years
5 days

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

07/1138

22 January 1907

P. G. Pirani, Deputy

No	61
Date of Notice	22 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Abbott Joynt	Frances Boyd
	💍 1907/1059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Clerk
Age	45	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	45 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	07/1138
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1907
Officiating Minister	P. G. Pirani, Deputy

23 January 1907

Harold Wills Blundell
Ada Gertrude Partridge

Harold Wills Blundell
Ada Gertrude Partridge
💍 1907/1169

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
20 years

St John's Christchurch

07/1266

23 January 1907

Rev. H. Purchas, Anglican

No	62
Date of Notice	23 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Wills Blundell	Ada Gertrude Partridge
	💍 1907/1169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St John's Christchurch
Folio	07/1266
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Purchas, Anglican

23 January 1907

James Robert Clarke
Eliza Haigh

James Robert Clarke
Eliza Haigh
💍 1907/1186

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

29
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
12 years

Church of Christ, Durham St

07/1293

23 January 1907

Rev. R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

No	63
Date of Notice	23 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Clarke	Eliza Haigh
	💍 1907/1186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Durham St
Folio	07/1293
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Gebbie, Church of Christ

23 January 1907

Archibald London Mead
Jane Allingham

Archibald London Mead
Jane Allingham
💍 1907/1214

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

29
22

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 days
7 years

Church of England, Queen Street, Sydenham

07/1294

Jane Pascoe, mother

23 January 1907

Archd. Scott, Anglican

No	64
Date of Notice	23 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald London Mead	Jane Allingham
	💍 1907/1214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Queen Street, Sydenham
Folio	07/1294
Consent	Jane Pascoe, mother
Date of Certificate	23 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Archd. Scott, Anglican

23 January 1907

John William Smith
Mary Ann Armstrong

John William Smith
Mary Anne Armstrong
💍 1907/1066

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

20
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 months
9 months

Registrar's Office, Christchurch

07/1139

John William Smith, father

23 January 1907

P. G. Pirani, Deputy

No	65
Date of Notice	23 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Smith	Mary Ann Armstrong
BDM Match (97%)	John William Smith	Mary Anne Armstrong
	💍 1907/1066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Christchurch
Folio	07/1139
Consent	John William Smith, father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1907
Officiating Minister	P. G. Pirani, Deputy

23 January 1907

George Woolley
Elsie Sophia Bell Crowe

George Woolley
Elsie Sophia Bell Crowe
💍 1907/1137

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

24
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

17 years
13 years

House of Mr. J. Crowe, 191 Manchester St, Christchurch

07/1218

John Crowe, father

23 January 1907

Rev. T. Ready, Methodist

No	66
Date of Notice	23 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Woolley	Elsie Sophia Bell Crowe
	💍 1907/1137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	17 years	13 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Crowe, 191 Manchester St, Christchurch
Folio	07/1218
Consent	John Crowe, father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Ready, Methodist

24 January 1907

Albert Edward Allen
Jessie Berta Pankhurst

Albert Edward Allen
Jessie Beta Pankhurst
💍 1907/1358

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
23

Christchurch
Shirley

Life
Life

Methodist Church, Shirley

07/1462

24 January 1907

Mr. J. Oliver, Methodist

No	67
Date of Notice	24 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Allen	Jessie Berta Pankhurst
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Edward Allen	Jessie Beta Pankhurst
	💍 1907/1358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Shirley
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Shirley
Folio	07/1462
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. Oliver, Methodist

25 January 1907

Alexander Simpson
Elizabeth O'Donnell

Alexander Simpson
Elizabeth ODonnell
💍 1907/1209

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Waitress

45
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

07/1312

25 January 1907

Rev. P. Regnault, Romanist

No	68
Date of Notice	25 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Simpson	Elizabeth O'Donnell
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Simpson	Elizabeth ODonnell
	💍 1907/1209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Waitress
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	07/1312
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault, Romanist

26 January 1907

Alfred Joseph Malley
Mary Lawler

Alfred Joseph Mally
Mary Lawlor
💍 1907/1289

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

35
31

Christchurch
Fairlie

Life
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Fairlie

07/1309

26 January 1907

Rev. A. Lepett, Romanist

No	69
Date of Notice	26 January 1907
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Joseph Malley	Mary Lawler
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Joseph Mally	Mary Lawlor
	💍 1907/1289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Fairlie
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Fairlie
Folio	07/1309
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1907
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Lepett, Romanist

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).