Intentions to Marry, 1908 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840438, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 185

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 31 December 1908 Registrar William Dryburgh Wallace

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

3 October 1908

James Walter Ambrose Pegg
Elizabeth Jane Meyrick

James Walter Ambrose Pegg
Elizabeth Jane Meyrick
💍 1908/8452

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

20
20

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 years
20 years

Holy Trinity Church

08/7768

James Pegg (father)

3 October 1908

Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	3 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walter Ambrose Pegg	Elizabeth Jane Meyrick
	💍 1908/8452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	08/7768
Consent	James Pegg (father)
Date of Certificate	3 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

31 October 1908

Herbert Samuel Desbidge
Ethel Emily Fletcher

Herbert Samuel Derbidge
Ethel Emily Fletcher
💍 1908/8454

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine engineer

28
28

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

13 months
28 years

St. Saviours Church

08/7770

31 October 1908

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	31 October 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Samuel Desbidge	Ethel Emily Fletcher
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Samuel Derbidge	Ethel Emily Fletcher
	💍 1908/8454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine engineer
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	13 months	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church
Folio	08/7770
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

1 December 1908

Charles Albert Durham
Harriet Voyce

Charles Albert Deerham
Harriet Voyce
💍 1908/8453

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

31
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

2 years
12 months

The house of Andrew Guy, Governors Bay

08/7769

1 December 1908

Rev. Alfred Peters, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	1 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Durham	Harriet Voyce
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Albert Deerham	Harriet Voyce
	💍 1908/8453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	The house of Andrew Guy, Governors Bay
Folio	08/7769
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Peters, Methodist

1 December 1908

Archibald Thompson Douglas
Mary Munro Jamieson

Archibald Thompson Douglas
Mary Munro Jamieson
💍 1908/8450

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Tailoress

27
27

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
3 years

The residence of William Jamieson, Governors Bay

08/7766

1 December 1908

Rev. J. J. Bates, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	1 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Thompson Douglas	Mary Munro Jamieson
	💍 1908/8450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Tailoress
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	The residence of William Jamieson, Governors Bay
Folio	08/7766
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates, Presbyterian

9 December 1908

William McAlla Heath
Isabelle McLean

William McCulla Heath
Isabelle McLean
💍 1908/8455

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw miller

31
30

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
30 years

St. Saviours Church

08/7771

9 December 1908

Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

No	36
Date of Notice	9 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McAlla Heath	Isabelle McLean
BDM Match (95%)	William McCulla Heath	Isabelle McLean
	💍 1908/8455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw miller
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church
Folio	08/7771
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Coates, Anglican

23 December 1908

Richard Phillips
Olive Catherine Hinds

Richard Phillips
Olive Catherine Hinds
💍 1908/8456

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

24
24

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
24 years

St. Saviours Church

08/7772

23 December 1908

Rev. H. Williams, Anglican

No	37
Date of Notice	23 December 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Phillips	Olive Catherine Hinds
	💍 1908/8456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviours Church
Folio	08/7772
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1908
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Williams, 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).